Pennsylvania's Pact play harsh black metal. And on the off chance that you don't know what that means, take a look at the cover: tackle out, the Pope and a nun stand chained to a pedestal upon which is perched Satan. That screams black metal doesn't it? And if you're not convinced, then maybe the ten sadistic, nihilistic, and satanic (obviously) barrages of blackened bilious aggression contained within will no doubt hammer the nail home.
It's got the requisite raw production. It's also got razor-sharp discordant guitar work and rabidly tremolo-picked riffs. It's got rasped vocals as sharp as gargled glass. It's got drumming that is ruthless and pummelling. It's violent, volatile, and vile and dripping in filth. For these reasons, The Dragon Lineage Of Satan could easily be considered orthodox black metal and could just as easily be dismissed as derivative, but this is far from derivative. Beyond the staples of the genre and the murky sound are a bunch of intense tracks with no filler and even less frills. There are many shades in the darkness. The fairly straightforward structures are strewn with nuances and subtleties that deeper listens return and augment the intensely atmospheric tracks. Anti-religious, Pact's lyrics are a rally against herd mentality, drawing from occult philosophy such as that of the Golden Dawn as well as the philosophy of Nietzsche and Kant and the poetry of Blake, Crowley and Baudelaire to give fuel to their ire.
Aggressive and abrasive, the chaotic vehemence is a violent and vile energy. Fear-inducing, this is unadulterated savagery. If you like your black metal barbarous, The Dragon Lineage Of Satan is as filthy as a half-price whore, as dirty her customers' desires, and as raw as her ravaged orifice of demonic pleasure. Just what black metal should be.
Track Listing:
- Litany to Satan
- Into Heaven's Night
- Dreamless Death
- Ecstasy and Illumination
- The Flowers of Evil
- The Middle Pillar
- Ascension from the Fall
- Terror of the Lower Astral (The Journey)
- Suicide Sigil
- A Vast Eternity
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