Lightning Swords of Death occupy a strange limbo within the United States' fractured metal scene; although deemed "mainstream" by virtue of their position on major indie, Metal Blade, and tour history (they've shared stages with High on Fire, Nachtmystium, Danzig, and Behemoth), they peddle a twisted black metal alloy as savage and hate-fueled as that of any underground darling. They pervert nearly every USBM stereotype imaginable, and it's been both a blessing and a curse for the strangely underrated quartet. Now, with Baphometic Chaosium, they've upped the ante and produced something even more alienating and vile than their previous efforts.
Heavily informed by late-period Mayhem (especially Chimera and Ordo Ad Chao), early Marduk, and Into the Pandemonium-era Celtic Frost, Baphometic Chaosium is an engaging, aggressive, and unapologetically strange collection of semi-modern black metal. The tone and execution harken back to times past; there's no hint of watered-down "post" anything here. The title track comes slithering into earshot on the heels of a funeral procession, slowly building in intensity and menace until it explodes into a demonstration of what furious, violent black metal is meant to sound like, replete with razor-edged solo and hoarse, demonic growls.
After the stage has been set, "Acid Gate" stretches on through nearly seven minutes of sluggish blasting, crowned by Autarch's most scintillatingly strange vocal performance yet, resulting in moments of lugubrious, hollow chanting straight out of vampiric B-movie hell. There's no time to rest here, no lulls of tranquility or homogeny. The woozy beginnings of" Psychic Waters" jolt into furious blasts of vociferous death metal and dissonant, churning riffs. The instrumental "Cloven Shields" is less a palate cleanser than a cursed omen of further torments to come. Its shuddering, Goblin-esque soundscape is strewn with doleful minor keyed melodies and sweeping synth lines that evoke gothic horror and sonic ruin, ushering in the slow, refined dissonance of "Chained to Decay". Lightning Swords of Death sink into the depths of death/doom on this one, with its crawling tempo, strangled howls, and half-melted Celtic Frost riffs that end in a drawn-out, bilious croak fading into the distance.
"R'Lyeh Wuurm" segues straight back into blackened fury, boasting tight, controlled blasts, and near-martial drumming that crashes into the eight-minute fever dream of "Epicyclarium". Autarch's dolorous chants resurface, his voice distorted and dampened, and serve as a focal point amidst the swirling chaos of spring-wound tremolo picking and inhumanly precise blastbeats that soon break down into a supremely headbangable, mid-tempo swagger before clawing its way back towards the void. Album closer "Oaken Chrysalis" stays firmly in the tried and true, uptempo, slightly polished black metal camp (the only indication that Lightning Swords of Death have spend any time over the past nine years in the sunshine, or outside of their own record collections) and even this collapses into pulsing noise and creepy spoken invocations.
Baphometic Chaosium is worth your attention, full stop. It shuns sentimental atmospherics and self-conscious experimentation, ignoring anything but the band members' own interests, influences, and addictions. There is no pretension, no illusion. There is only darkness, evil, and bloodlust. This is the kind of American black metal that we should be known for, and Lightning Swords of Death deserve some fucking credit.
