I have to admit, within Black Metal and Extreme Metal as a whole genre of extreme music in totality, the idea of opposing religion and Christianity as a source of inspiration for lyrics, themes and artwork is one I will never tire of, especially if it’s done well.
Non Est Deus from Germany does exactly that, and have done so since 2018 when I discovered their debut album, ‘The Last Supper’. The band’s name itself is Latin and translates to ‘There Is No God’ (coincidentally the name of their 2019 album, complete with massive lettering as the album artwork saying as such) and here, in 2026, released during Easter week itself, they unveil their latest opus, ‘Blessings And Curses’.
Non Est Deus have truly found their sound; one that works well for them within Extreme Metal and Black Metal at large; melodic Black Metal with catchy choruses, an enigmatic live show, snarled vocals, soaring melodies, bombastic riffs and tight drumming. This is prevalent on this release, particularly on tracks like ‘My Lord’, ‘My Forsaken’ and ‘The Sacrifice’; however, as a whole, the album is intended to be listened to in its entirety.
The lyrics of the songs are of note as well, as they seem to develop as time goes on, reflecting the album title itself, as they seemingly start off complimentary of God, but by the midway point, begin to doubt God entirely and then culminate in true opposition towards the concept of religion and more specifically, Christianity.
With a sound that brings to mind the likes of Ukraine’s 1914 and Sweden’s Lömsk, Non Est Deus have a stellar discography of German Melodic Black Metal that has been revisited time and time again by this reviewer, as they truly do tick those boxes for me; much like the output from the sole creative force behind Non Est Deus, the clandestine multi-instrumentalist known only as Noise, with his other projects, Kanonenfieber and Leipa (the former being a project with a stellar military-themed live show)
When the tempo shifts in tracks like ‘Transgression’ and ‘Kora’ before ramping up again, it feels truly triumphant; the riffs evoking Mgła, Groza and Uada at their best, but is still unmistakably Non Est Deus; catchy, unrelenting and punctuated with melody.
Another brilliant effort from this outfit, and no, it’s not reinventing the wheel whatsoever, but I can genuinely see it ending up on End of Year Album Lists, due to the reliability of the band, stellar production and quality songwriting.
