Originally written by Jordan Campbell
Vorkreist is a tough band to pin down…
…actually, no, they aren’t. They sound as if they’ve been locked in stasis since the mid-2000’s, when Arkhon Infaustus was lighting people’s balls on fire and Aborym was putting ’em out with ice cannons. They play slightly industrialized, shined-up black metal with a hint of DM, and they do it like Frenchmen. Just not very well.
Sigil Whore Christ (oooh…blasphemy!) has a glaring flaw: The production is way too polished, yet somehow rickety and amateurish at the same time. A little bit of filth n’ grime could’ve made the sub-Fear Factory riffing that opens “De Imiatiatione Christi” a hell of a lot more compelling. Same goes for the awkward “Dominus Illumatio Mea,” as some static could provide some forgiveness for a song that morphs too quickly for its own good. (Decent blasting segues to bumble-fried tremolo picking, finally culminating in the year’s worst guitar solo.)
If this had been covered in gutterscum and fucked into the dirt, it might have won itself the clumsy compositional charm of, say, an Ash Pool. However, Sigil Whore Christ is presented in pristine fashion, a naked slab splayed on a cold, clean cutting board. Visible maggots–of which there are plenty–aren’t welcome here.
Quality morsels exist, to be sure. The furious intro to “Ecce Homo” recalls a blunted Anaal Nathrakh; the double-kicks in “Scalae Gemoniae” are infectious as hell; and the plodding “Ad Nauseam” has menacing riffage to spare, despite the over-processed, near-comic (“…she said she didn’t like to swallow…”) gurgles of vocalist Saint Vincent. Unfortunately, Vorkreist‘s overall approach is painfully dated and third-tier, a fact that is especially troubling for a veteran band boasting former members of Merrimack, Glorior Belli, Corpus Christii, Antaeus, and Secrets of the Moon.
Maybe they’re former members for a reason.
