ANTAEUS – DE PRINCIPII EVANGELIKUM LP (Osmose Productions)

For whatever reason, I’ve been devoting an ever-increasing amount of my rather scarce listening time to older albums in recent months. Not sure if it’s a nostalgia thing or if the disconcerting lack of quality new releases appearing thus far in 2021 has given me a better appreciation of the classics that winged their way into my collection over the years (and have been largely overlooked for way too long, gathering dust when they should remain on regular rotation).

The sonic embodiment of unadulterated evil and depravity, Antaeus’s sophomore full-length, ‘De Principii Evangelikum’, is an album that never grows old. Sheer evil is timeless and can be neither tarnished nor diluted by the passage of time. In just 28 minutes, the filth-fuelled French demons rip through what is surely one of the most diabolical works ever recorded this side of hell itself.

Two years on from their millennial debut, ‘Cut Your Flesh And Worship Satan’, Antaeus made a pact with the hooved one Himself and evidently brought Him to Alpha Omega Studio in Paris to actively participate in the creation of an iconic detonation of decadent, corrupt Black Metal. Ferocious and contemptuous riffs are merged with possessed drumming and undoubtedly one of the most unholy vocal performances of all time to produce a malevolent maelstrom of elevated Satanic vehemence.

Carefree and chaotic, ‘De Principii Evangelikum’ set the bar astonishingly high and most of the bands releasing records today can’t even come close to emulating the intensity and raw revulsion delivered hereon. An unforgettable and immersive experience that is always worthy of half an hour of anybody’s time.

Evilometer: 666/666