Description
In April 2021, Cultes des Ghoules released two digital EPs: โDeeds Without a Nameโ and โEyes of Satanโ. As of December 2021, both of them will be available on one and the same vinyl. In accordance with the bandโs own request โ as a means of perpetuating a certain sinister current of ages past โ said LP will bear the mark of EAL Productions.
The two EPs were recorded around the same time โ both in Black Lodge, the bandโs own little den of sonic misdeeds. The underlying musical and conceptual fundaments are the same, but they take vastly different expressions.
On โDeeds Without a Nameโ, we find a more traditional Cultes des Ghoules sound: Black Metal heavily laden with doom influences, steeped in witchcraft and foul magic. The songs are a bit more intricate than the predominantly straightforward material on โSinisterโ, but now presented in a harsher soundscape. Nonetheless, the characteristic sound of each instrument is still clearly audible: evil guitar riffs, Hellenic worship in the basswork, erratic and peculiar drumming, and marvellous use of eerie-sounding keyboards.
Cultes des Ghoules themselves describe โDeeds Without a Nameโ as the end of โa certain era of the bandโ. Interestingly, its companion EP is supposedly an indication of where they are headed next.
โEyes of Satanโ is the result of an improvisational trance session in Black Lodge, undertaken on the summer solstice of 2020 in solar alignment with Hell. The music is perhaps best described as ritual ambient with a core of Black Metal. The guitars are there โ but with Machineโs brooding waves of distortion further in the background โ as is a slower and more tribalistic take on Windom Earleโs percussive style. The musicโs main driving force are the smothering layers of organs, keyboards, effects, and chants. The multi-faceted vocals of Mark of the Devil are as theatrical as ever, but here delivered more as rabid recitals and intonations.
While undeniably experimental, โEyes of Satanโ is anything but random and directionless. The course is set deep into the realms of deeply unsettling psychedelic terror.
