Review Summary: Cultes Des Ghoules at their most primal and unfiltered. By God could we only imagine what they would grow to be.
Some days I find it hard to believe that
Häxan and
Coven were created by the same artists. On paper many of Cultes Des Ghoules’ key attributes carry over; the occult ritualism, the thick, old school black metal riffs, the deranged vocals. On the other hand it’s exceedingly blunt by comparison, lacking the theatrical setup of
Coven and the chilling atmosphere of
Henbane. No,
Häxan is a beast of a different color all things considered. It has a wrecking ball approach (riff first, ask questions later) and sprinkles little dashes of the occult weirdness
Henbane would later run away with, all packaged together into epic tracks ranging from just under eight minutes to over sixteen. The pacing is faster as well, leaving ample room for headbangers to have their way, but still slowing things down occasionally for ominous stompers and splashes of ambience. It’s a noisy beast to boot, guitars spreading a cloudy fuzz of distortion with every note, while the drum and bass work leave a downright pummeling bottom layer. In a lot of ways
Häxan plays out like the debut of some kids trying their hand at black metal after years of worshiping it from the bedroom and the garage. The rawness and the wild energy is there just as it fades on
Henbane, leaving a calculated, constructed product rather than a creation of passion and excitement. Yet there are moments in retrospect that hint at what the twisted minds behind Cultes Des Ghoules were capable of, even on the less refined animal that is
Häxan.
It’s all a lot less daunting that it seems, especially if you happen to have experienced the grandeur of their later works before
Häxan. It’s certainly no slouch in length, but looking past the 55 minute runtime reveals that most of that hour boils down to tightly constructed, but relatively simple heavy metal with a propensity for the riff. The most theatrical moment doesn’t even appear until the very end of the album as “The Impure Wedding” closes with a two minute sample of a woman’s feral snarling and growling with a few creepy piano runs bouncing around in the background. Other than a couple of brief samples to introduce “Stregoica Dance” and “Scholomance”, the rest is a concoction of devilry and black metal, pure and primal. Even with how few samples are used, the atmosphere is still present. Mark of the Devil is an intimidating presence, even on the band’s debut, and his vocals call to mind child-devouring crones at one moment and the devil incarnate in the next. A sometimes unrefined approach is evident, notably at instances like in “The Covenant and the Sacrifice” where they channel a garage band aesthetic by tossing a bout of guitar feedback and a fast drum count-in to transition from a slow, pounding number into a flash of blast beats and tremolos. The youthful exuberance is appreciable for sure, but all the same, these moments make us realize what a far cry
Häxan is from what Cultes Des Ghoules have become: one of the most grandiose, high-minded, and exciting acts in black metal today. This doesn’t have to mean that
Häxan is the lesser for these attributes, rather it’s even greater because of them. Striking a unique balance between forward thinking ambition and a rookie’s “in-the-moment” approach puts
Häxan in its own unique space within Cultes Des Ghoules’ still young discography. One can choose the sweeping theatricality of
Coven, the bone-chilling terror of
Henbane, or the unbridled, devilish glee of
Häxan to experience, whereas many similar bands might be condemned to rewriting the same album over and over again for a career. How many artists can claim to have created three records in a row right from the start that can be held up as unique from each other while still being irrefutably representative of themselves as artists? Not many, and that’s a good omen for Cultes Des Ghoules future if you should somehow still have concerns for its well-being.
