DEATH LIKE MASS – THE LORD OF FLIES LP (Terratur Possessions)

The latter half of what had threatened to be an otherwise largely fruitless and uneventful calendar year from a Black Metal perspective has presented some unexpected and pleasant surprises, with the without-warning materialisation of the first Death Like Mass long-player, ‘The Lord of Flies’, fitting snugly into this category. DLM had already delivered high-quality music into the underground in more-abbreviated doses and for whatever reason I assumed the genesis of Sodality might mark the demise of this delirious dark entity. But Sodality it seems is a sibling not an offspring.

Here we have three-quarters-of-a-witching-hour’s worth of spellbinding Black Metal not of this world. A record I find utterly mesmerising, ‘The Lord of Flies’ is possessed with a feeling of pure malice from start to finish and that’s an extremely difficult achievement to pull off these days. It takes genuine devotion to the cursed craft as well as no little skill to channel music so inherently, intrinsically malevolent. No problem to this tormented trinity!

As ever, Mark of the Devil’s uniquely expressive enunciations take everything to the next level. The iconic Cultes Des Ghoules frontman is more than a mere vocalist; the manner in which he immerses himself into every word to produce such dramatic results never ceases to amaze, but within the inimitable Death Like Mass mosaic, this is only part of the story as all three participants in the ritual excel and then some.
The pseudonyms have been revised for this recording – now Angel of Lies, Eye of Set, Blood of Cain – but the potency of the magic wielded has not. Well, if anything, it has increased here. Formerly Eye of Urge, T. Kaos of Lvcifyre infamy is the composer in chief and unsanctified stringsman. The guitar playing on ‘The Lord of Flies’ tends to habitually veer off into the most unpredictable directions and places, with sounds and sonic expressions totally alien to Black Metal hitherto, yet it works wonderfully well, showing that in the right hands, Black Metal can be tweaked, experimented with and transformed successfully in unimaginable ways.

With human octopus Menthor tattooing tremendous power, panache and timing from behind the kit, Death Like Mass has all the ammunition required to conjure Black Metal of the most magnificent and majestic calibre. It’s truly extraordinary therefore that on the monumental debut full-length the outcome greatly exceeds the sum of the individual parts. This album is a masterpiece, each song is staggeringly brilliant in its own right and ‘The Lord of Flies’ is frankly a demonstration of everything Black Metal once was, sometimes is and still can be.

Evilometer: 666/666