SPLIT REVIEW: Black Altar / Vulture Lord – Deathiah Manifesto

Poland’s BLACK ALTAR and Norway’s VULTURE LORD have unleashed a diabolical split album via Odium Records, let’s get right into the chaos.

BLACK ALTAR begin the split with a haunting ambient introduction, setting a cinematic and tense mood for what lies ahead. A barrage of blasting beats and melodic riffing instantly launches us into a cascade of malicious 90s Black Metal that is both grandiose and also raw. Mangled vocals deliver spectral incantations to accompany the blistering instrumentals and give us a haunting sound that showcases Black Altar at their peak, delivering Black Metal true to the old school ways. Progressing into some devastating grooves, or emanating a bitterly cold atmosphere, there is a relative amount of diversity which all stays in the classic field but avoids becoming overly repetitive. Instead, the songwriting develops very nicely across the intro, outro and 2 “proper” songs. A definitively mysterious and eerie atmosphere permeates this entire side which is inescapable and something that will have you diving further into Black Altar’s lengthy discography, rest assured the high quality is consistent. This is definitely a masterfully crafted slice of devilish excellence that opens the split triumphantly.

VULTURE LORD dive right into a VULCANO cover, bringing Brazils’ maniacal force onto this European Black Metal onslaught, a very welcome addition to the violent chaos of the split. The cover is performed with energy and passion, showcasing a truly epic regard for true old school Extreme Metal. While the first side was more focussed on atmosphere and melody, this material is ugly, malignant and bludgeoning, a perfect and healthy contrast that sees this Norwegian mob fire through 4 tracks of perdition as they revel in blasphemous carnage. Packing one hell of a punch with their percussive grooves while the searing guitars and scolding vocals ensure that piercing Black Metal force breaks any skull in their vicinity. This side hits like a hammer of Satanic might that shall not permit victims to escape, be a part of the mayhem or fall before the mighty Vulture Lord.

In summary, this showcases the possessing forces of mighty Black Metal burning brightly with 2 different bands, from different places with a very different sound unite to conjure a blasphemous opus of malignant sounds. Black Altar bring a more 90s Black Metal concoction while Vulture Lord utilise the more 80s Black-Thrash sharpness, both are excellent at their craft and both bring something evil to this record. Fans of true old school Black Metal worship must check this out!