The RMR crew covered Halphas not that long ago. Aggressive German Black Metal fare that found quite an echo over here. They offered sermons, very dark sermons to you-know-who. And they must have summoned something in the process. Because here – suddenly – Corpus Diavolis appear on our radar with yet another ritualistic piece, darkly glowing in the colors of the flesh.
An offering that’s atrociously salacious and prone for demonetization by the social media whackos. But who are we kidding? The putrid juices are spewing forth, fueled by a vile elixir. Elixiria Ekstasis, they called it. Some sort of daemonic Viagra, methinks. So, is it spring yet? And in what neck of the woods will the jester have its heretical feast of debauchery? I’m asking for a friend.
Atra Lumen impressed us with a ton of gnarly and truly evil Black Metal, an ungodly beat we had difficulty escaping. The RMR gang was a tad less taken with their 2021 piece Apocatastase,1 even if their acolytes state that this should be their feistiest piece yet. So, together with Seth, Corpus Diavolis made themselves a thunderous name for French Black Metal over at the RMR Review desk. We’re not sure why but the country with arguably the best table manners sports one of the filthiest brands of BM South of Scandinavia. The trve thing. Vile, abrasive, goat-infested, and positively good.
But now, the band returns in full ritualistic form with some sort of ecstatic springtime ritual with the divine female. Ēostre’s fest, fueled by bent rules to pleasure The Goat, like. Elixiria Ekstasis takes you straight back to the ’90s. With blood-laced tremolos, meaty riffs straight from hell, incessant ferocious blast beats, and Daemonicreator‘s raw and abrasive croak. Out the door are the lengthy discourse and – indeed – the playfulness of Apocatastase. And in comes a total focus on the writhing altar in a way to make Funeral Fvkk blush in shame.
And if you have the stomach for it, check out their lyrics as well. I am already looking forward to reading the outraged ejaculations of some of the more Puritan metal scribes out there. The ones who will giddily buy into the most atrocious and gory Death Metal. But – by Jove – we cannot have stark carnal themes, now, can we?
Elixiria Ekstasis here indeed reaches deep. The first few tracks still wallow in the traditional realms of the grimiest Black Metal. But further down the tracklist oriental instruments like the sitar suddenly make an appearance. Together with the hypnotic hum of the local religions on the Indian sub-continent. But then again, this is not necessarily something new with Corpus Diavolis. Atra Lumen already contained a fair share of shaman-esque drone.
And what menstrual atrocities struck us most? Well, Carnal Hymnody will give you a taste of the bells of hell amid a meaty and terrible progression. The way they pumped up the tremolos midway with those straight-in-your-face croaked lyrics just blew us away. The grimy yet juicy groove and limited foray into tech on Cyclopean Adoration pretty much saved this track after a somewhat weak start. The Golden Chamber displays its boundless aggression with reflections of old masters like Gorgoroth and echoes of Filosofem. But the quiet ferocity of Menstruum Congressus really took the cake. Clear voice invocations, rough rasps, and all that amid meaty riffs, blast beats to kill on sight, and brutal breakdowns mangling your ears. This thing is a true tour-de-force.
And all that culminates in a clutch of expertly crafted tracks that flicker ominously in the terrible glow of the Dark Lord. But it is indeed the repetitive nature of ever-returning themes from the past that almost pulled the record back from the brink of greatness. Almost. The piece, whilst powerfully sturdy, often misses out on that little extra that would have pulled us down with the band further into that abyss.
Ultimately though, Elixiria Ekstasis is a feisty one. Fueled by ritualistic urges and the lusty passions of goaty fornication, Corpus Diavolis again brought us one of the best cuts of French Black Metal. A foray into olden times when the genre was young and exciting, yet imbued with a powerful and energetic dark force that spills into the present.
“Adferte Sathanas gloria, quoniam magnus Sathanas…”,2 the band magnanimously chanted at one time in heated ritualistic fervor. There you go, the point of the record well made.
Ed’s note: And the record made it onto the 2024 Top 10 Records and the Malevolent 2024 Series. Congrats!
Record Rating: 8/10 | Label: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 15 March 2024