The Royal Arch Blaspheme - The Royal Arch Blaspheme

Release Date: April 21st, 2010
Label: Hells Headbangers Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Denial of the Holy Spirit
2.  Jahbulon
3.  Via Crucis
4.  Isaiah 14:12
5.  Dead Eucharist
6.  Lust and Sacrilege
7.  Ascension of Lies
8.  Alchemic
9.  Seven Devils of Ejaculation
10.  Kingdom of Perversions

Total playing time:  41:30

April 26, 2010

Reviewer: Matt

With John Gelso on all instruments, artwork by Paul Ledney, and song titles like “Seven Devils of Ejaculation”, you know what you’re getting.  Everything here is unapologetic, unabashed Profanatica worship.  Those who aren’t satisfied with Profanatica’s admittedly small body of work, absolutely can’t wait for their new release, or don’t even know who they are might find something worth hearing here.  Most will be less interested.

There are a few tracks where The Royal Arch Blaspheme moves away from mimicry toward its own sound.  “Via Crucis” is mid-paced with laid-back, sustained melodies.  Passages in “Dead Eucharist” and “Lust and Sacrilege” experiment with doom and drone, and “Kingdom of Perversions” is a claustrophobic album closer.  Unfortunately the bulk of the album spends it time pillaging every element of Profanatica’s sound.  Imperial of Krieg, ostensibly another selling point for the project, does his best Ledney impersonation, rotted-larynx snarls with the echo effect.  Gelso’s riffs span from Dethrone the Son of God (“Denial of the Holy Spirit”) to Profanatitas De Domonatia (“Dead Eucharist”), and his drumming apes Ledney’s imitable style but has little of its charm.

I was curious when Hells Headbangers announced this project, hoping that a band that effectively copped to a having a derivative aesthetic could nonetheless succeed on a compositional level.  Regrettably that’s not the case from here, as aside from the lead riff of “Denial of the Holy Spirit” none of the songs are particularly memorable.  It’s easy to write riffs that sound like Profanatica riffs.  The Royal Arch Blaspheme isn’t, after all, the first band with this shtick.  What is hard to do evidently is arrange those riffs so that the melody and rhythm create the aura of dementia and the uncompromisingly furious momentum that make Profanatica a classic act.  Even though Profanatica has released maybe and hour’s worth of songs (not counting all the times they’ve been re-recorded and re-released) I’d still reach for one of those CDs when I’m in the mood for this type of black metal.  It’s not fair to call The Royal Arch Blaspheme a “rip off” or “derivative” because they’re doing exactly what they set out to do, but the result is dull and uninspired.

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