Watain – Casus Luciferi

Monday, July 25, 2005

Author: Matthew Kirshner

On its follow-up to Rabid Death’s Curse, this Swedish ensemble continues to edge further from the pack and makes a bid for the upper echelon of black metal’s latest wave. Combining Immortal’s deification of riff with the grime and attitude of urban (read: modern) Satyricon is bound to make for a heady brew under the usual circumstances, but is punched up to even greater effect here through any number of clever ideas. Witness the spiraling, seasick riffs of “Black Salvation,” the martial drumming at the two-minute mark of “Opus Dei,” the endless variety of fills and cymbal work on the percussive end, and the filthy, robust bass mix that pervades the entire album. Casus Luciferi might lack that mondo bizarro element that makes so much of the current BM crop (from France to San Fran) so interesting, but this seems to have more earthy, foot-on-the-monitor aspirations. In that, it is a total success. If star quality is to be found at all in the land of necro, then Watain is its Gary Cooper. Glorious, magnetic stuff.

Rating: 9/10
Website: www.templeofwatain.com
Label: Drakkar Productions