Long-running Austrian death/black metal band Belphegor are masters of track and album titles.
Previous discs have sported names like Bondage Goat Zombie, Pestapokalypse VI, and Lucifer Incestus, with songs like "Belphegor -- Hell's Ambassador," "Sexdictator Lucifer," and "Demonic Staccato Erection." This new disc includes such life-affirming anthems as "Hail the New Flesh," "Veneratio Diaboli -- I Am Sin," and "Enthralled Toxic Sabbath." Which makes the prospect of a Belphegor album exciting on its surface.
The trouble is the actual music.
It's pretty much rote black metal with some death metal flourishes, like tweedly guitar solos and gut-shaking double-bass drumming.
There are a few stand-out moments, like a slow, grinding passage in "Hail the New Flesh," but Belphegor really aren't doing anything on Walpurgis Rites: Hexenwahn that they haven't done on earlier albums.
This album represents a holding pattern, not progress, which some might take to mean it's aimed solely at existing fans -- but, ironically, the band's very artistic stasis, and black and death metal's utter resistance to hooks and melody, mean that this album is also as good an introduction to Belphegor as any of their earlier releases.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walpurgis RitesBelphegor, Hecate, Helmuth | Belphegor | Play | 03:09 | 2 MB | 25 MB |
| 2 | Veneratio Diaboli - I Am SinBelphegor, Hecate, Helmuth | Belphegor | Play | 07:02 | 6 MB | 57 MB |
| 3 | Reichswehr in BloodBelphegor, Hecate, Helmuth | Belphegor | Play | 04:36 | 4 MB | 38 MB |
| 4 | The Crosses Made of BoneBelphegor, Hecate, Helmuth | Belphegor | Play | 04:26 | 4 MB | 36 MB |
| 5 | Der GeistertreiberBelphegor, Hecate, Helmuth | Belphegor | Play | 03:41 | 3 MB | 30 MB |
| 6 | Destroyer HekateBelphegor, Hecate, Helmuth | Belphegor | Play | 03:37 | 3 MB | 29 MB |
| 7 | Hexenwahn - TotenkultBelphegor, Hecate, Helmuth | Belphegor | Play | 02:44 | 2 MB | 19 MB |
| 8 | Enthralled Toxic Sabbath | Belphegor | Play | 04:33 | 4 MB | 36 MB |
| 33 mins | 30 MB | |||||
| 33 mins | 273 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belphegor | Composer, Lyricist, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 2 | Andy Classen | Effects, Mastering, Mixing, Producer, Sampling |
| 3 | Hecate | Composer, Lyricist |
| 4 | Helmuth | Arranger, Composer, Guitar, Lyricist, Sampling |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |