The first Panchrysia full-length ‘In Obscure Depths’ hardly stuck out in the crowd, so it took until a recent gig in support of Negura Bunget before I bothered checking them out again. Having released another album in the meantime, their music has matured, and the result of this development manifests itself on their new opus ‘Deathcult Salvation’.
Musically the band still nods heavily towards Satyricon, although they’ve gotten more of an own sound since their debut. In particular in the faster sections, which alternate the mostly mid-paced compositions, the band also reminds me of Watain and more recent Marduk. An essential part of the listening experience is the excellent production courtesy of Marduk bass player Magnus Devo Andersson, giving ‘Deathcult Salvation’ a filthy, raw yet clear production fitting to the style of the offered material. The result is a dark, militant mixture of intense Black ‘n’ Roll combined with furious outbursts. The one exception on the album is the (in my opinion failed) experiment with female vocals in ‘Morituri Te Salutant’, but this hardly takes anything away from a record that is consistently strong. Particular tracks of interest are ’Chaos Injector’, ‘Fogbound’, ‘The Vile Ascendancy’ and ‘Phantom Asylum’, without taking much away from the other songs. In fact, Panchrysia has released an impressive album that to me sets the standard for all the Black Metal releases this year! It’s going to take quite a lot to top the quality record that ‘Deathcult Salvation’ has turned out to be!
