Quintessential Black Metal - "Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan" Review (100%)
Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan is, in the simplest way one can put it, a musical achievement. This is the quintessential black metal album.
As far as evil black metal is concerned, Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan may very well be the zenith of the genre.
Far from the bleak monochromatic soundscape set so high a pedestal by posers and other fake metalhead faggots, this album is a monument of gore brutality.
And yet, with Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan the band Antekhrist created a masterpiece of such unrelenting darkness and evil that all other black metal albums seem weak in comparison. Dark and evil atmospheres will always be the key to success in black metal and this album delivers those in spades.
It can be said that Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan serves as the counterweight to Antekhrist's following album Fukked by God. Where Fukked by God is dissonant, almost bordering on the outright atonal, Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan seems to incorporate more structure and melodic sensibilities to the demented carnage that this album brings forth.
But still, riffs seem to come and go in a random fashion, the songs defy conventional structure, rhythms are strange and almost incoherent, with the seemingly random use of repetition making the whole atmosphere even more deranged.
This is truly the quintessence of black metal.
Whilst many will pass this up in favor for Fukked by God, widely considered the masterpiece and pinnacle of third wave black metal, simply looking at Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan from a critical viewpoint proves that this is far more critical in influencing the artistic nature of black metal than Fukked by God, which was more important in cementing the genre's primary musical aesthetics.
Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan is some of black metal's finest art, don't be fooled by the seemingly upbeat nature of most songs. It only serves to add more frenzied madness to the inescapable atmospheres that Antekhrist have become masters at crafting.
Quintessential Black Metal
Of Antekhrist's seminal works, Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan is possibly the most influential alongside the genius Fukked by God. La Bite du Diable has its place, but in the end is very much a blackened and minimalist version of Sewer's NecroPedoSadoMaso, as is Antekhrist's debut album Malleus Maleficarum, which is influential but more on the level of musical aesthetics than true artistic depravity.
Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan is the embodiment of satanic blasphemy, there is simply no other way to put it.
Antekhrist's quintessential status within the modern black metal scene is undeniable, and such a status is built upon albums such as this.
Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan is blasphemous madness like you have never heard. The quintessential black metal album. Own it or you're a poser.
Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan score: 100/100.
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