Down-tuned, filthy and ritualistic sounding, mysterious US-based duo Sperm of Antichrist are not fucking around on their debut demo, Blight and Darkness. The sound wallows in the gnarliest viscera-strewn gutters of the death metal underground, subsisting on a steady diet of murky distortion and eerie ambience. It is as if someone took the doominess of prime Incantation and the blackened hypnosis of VON and threw them together in a cauldron of boiling virgin’s blood. Recently released on cassette by the mighty Hell’s Headbangers, the tape is already in its second pressing.
Although the concept of the “demo tape” is all but obsolete in the mainstream musical landscape, the practice is still frequently utilized within the metal underground. In this day and age there is just something strangely esoteric about a cassette release, as it is such an archaic and rare form of media. However, the four tracks Sperm of Antichrist offer up on Blight and Darkness are so well done that this could have easily been considered a proper release rather than a demo.
Regardless of the physical format, Sperm of Antichrist create some of the most evil-sounding, smoked-out death metal to pollute my ears in quite a while, right up there with the likes of recent offerings from Vasaeleth and Teitanblood. The atmosphere is so thick and suffocating on Blight and Darkness that you could cut through it with a chainsaw. The songs themselves are heavy, lugubrious worm dirges clawing their way up from the black bowels of ancient graves, darkening the skies and threatening to cover the planet in a thick miasma of utter malevolence.
Although the crawling, dense guitar-work dominates the mix, the most unsettling aspect of Blight and Darkness might be the vocals, a ghostly whisper that creeps out of the speakers, giving due praise to the horned one. Practically buried by the burly distortion of the guitars, they almost feel like subliminal messages, compelling you to join the cult of Sperm of Antichrist.
The recent resurgence of “real” death metal is giving us some great new bands, and Sperm of Antichrist is definitely one of them if this short demo is anything to go by. I can only imagine what horrors await if these guys ever decide to release a full length. If you’re looking for some truly dark and arcane death metal, do yourself a favor and get ahold of this tape. Only Analog is Real.
http://spermofantichrist.hellsheadbangers.com
THKD 