'First Invocation'
(Self-released - 2018)
MARK: 82/100
Prologue
Founded in 2017, Day Of The Beast is a French 3-piece (not to be confused with a Virginia's Death/Thrash Metal band with almost the same monicker) which has released only this rare EP so far, even though it is still active and playing live as a quartet. The 3 songs are categorized within the old wave of Black Metal and the four artists use facepaint, but you have to trust me if I tell you that there is also a large portion of primeval raw Death Metal in the songwriting, and in a few riffs in particular.
Package
The version in my hand is a cardboard CD without booklet.
Visual aspect
The front cover artwork portrays a digital drawing showing a wide-horned goat holding a cross among its sharp teeth while standing on a floor made out of skulls, some of which are impaled. The background is black and then there is the red band's logo high on the left.
On the back of the cardboard sleeve is a tower on which a bigger skull sits surmounting more skulls spread on the ground. Below we see the album's title, the title of the 3 tracks, info about the contacts, recording studios, and a thankslist.
I have to say that digital drawing isn't my favourite kind of drawing, but the artist did a very good job even within the limits of the digital medium, and I especially refer to the flatness that derives from digital layers.
The disk displays the red band's logo again, under which a pair of horns appear, separated from the title of the album and the track list, placed below.
Trivia
The CD is limited to only 50 copies!
Lyrics
All the lyrics are blasphemously Anti-Christian, Satanic, occult, or deal with Marquis De Sade's perversions.
In detail they talk:
* the snake of eden claiming God is dead and urging to hate him.
*
flames devouring the souls of the lambs of God.
* a little girl violated also anally and then killed, and a dog fed with her body.
As there are other prophets and deities to profanate, I would have preferred a different God to be attacked this time for variety.
Engineering and quality sound
Recorded at the Psykron and Conkrete studios in Verchan - maugrè and Bordeaux, the tracks enjoy a healthy old-fashioned sound, focused on mid-frequencies and on a fat bass.
Track-by-track musical analysis
The EP is opened by "Bastard Jesus Christ", which starts with a majestic riff, Black Metal vocals, blastbeats and palm-muted riffs, till a lacerating break arrives with a long vomited vocal projectile. It's then time for a new assault, followed by a slowdown, a mid-tempoed riff growing in pitch, all concluded by a final guitar stroke.
A bass riff placed at the beginning of "Perversion De Sade" constitutes the prologue of an attack based upon mid-tempoes, ensued by a rhythm which can't but stimulate headbanging. That is repeated till it's replaced by a violent refrain backed by a blastbeat and furious, rotten reverberated vocals.
Day Of The Beast later recur to demonic laughs, a solemn riff growing on the guitar fretboard, the repetition of the refrain until the closure delivered by the two guitars delivering their final stroke at the same time.
The longer of the 3 compositions, "Descent into Hell", is accompanied by an official video excerpted from a recent gig, and kicks off in a slow Doomy manner in order to prepare the listener to the riff and the vocals, as evil as they're crushing, as well as a groovy break supported by diabolical backing vocals. An acceleration with a blastbeat varies the recipe, preceding a purely vintage Black Metal axe solo, which in turn comes before a brief fragment in the vein of Immolation.
The trio utlizes the initial riff again, and after that a new riff, a perverted one, right to conclude the EP by guitar strokes faded away in the last seconds.
This is decidedly the most original, complete and elaborate song of the three and I wish the French musicians will keep on walking this path for their future releases.
Value
The fact that this is a rare CD and the band decided to send me a copy has filled me with pride. Now I feel a privileged to own that.
Available versions
I believe there's only a CD and a digital version for this full-length and no vinyl version is available as far as I know.
Conclusion
On one hand it's true there are only 3 songs and it's not a full-length, on the other hand I have to give these musicians credit because inside the narrow borders of Extreme Metal, they have been able to create 3 tracks quite different one from another, whereas some albums seem the song song repeated 12 times with 12 different titles.
Another key aspect is that Day Of The Beast don't have any limits, and they don't seem to accept them anytime soon either, which is something that makes them outstand and also renders them a pretty unique act. A surprising EP out of nowhere, from a well-performed songwriting. Let's cross our fingers and hope this Transalpine combo comes back one day. Our ears keep on begging for more brutality and empiousness other than these 10 minutes on "First Invocation"!
MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - March 12, 2023
Tracklist:
1. Bastard Jesus Christ
2. Descent into Hell
3. Perversion De Sade
Note: Track 2 is actually Perversion De Sade, while 3 is actually Descent into Hell
Discography:
-First Invocation (EP - 2018)
Line-up on this EP:
Demoniac - v., b.
Sheogorath - d.
Hades - g.
Current line-up as in photo below:
Demoniac - v., b.
Sheogorath - d.
Lord Beelzeburk - g.
Warghul - g.
Contacts:
Dunkirk, Hauts-de-France - France
E-mail: dayofthebeast666@gmail.com
Website homepage:
Official links:
Facebook
Bandcamp
You Tube
Instagram
DON'T MISS THIS ALBUM'S VIDEO REVIEWS IN ENGLISH AND ITALIAN:
English video review:
Italian video review:
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