Black Blood Invocation – “Black Blood Invocation MLP & 7″ EP” [Album Review]

Black Blood Invocation’s debut self-titled four track demo and their 7″ EP, Atavistic Offerings to the Sabbatic Goat, have been re-released by Helter Skelter/Regain Records for the patronage of fans who can’t get enough of ritual black/death metal. Said fans should also be happy to purchase analog copies of the recordings for full enjoyment of the band’s obscure musical style.

Black Blood Invocation are a relatively little-known entity in the black/death metal underground, but fans in the know will recall their previous releases with a smile that radiates warmth for truly underground black/death metal. The act have a straight-forward approach to writing songs, whether the rung notes lead the tremolo-riff washes and blast beat sections, or the band uppick and downpick slow chord transitions before launching into a salvo; they start off slow, then head to the races with the blast beat paced fast segments that last for the majority of the songs.

The music is primitive, so fans who don’t appreciate songwriting and production values that echo cavernous qualities should search elsewhere. The guitars never stray into melodic territory and neither does the drumming reflect virtuoso inclinations whatsoever. (The vocalist was wise to spare us of any clean singing.) The music as a whole reeks of an impurity that fans of ritual pagan darkness love for a night’s ritual excursions at barns full of unkept animals.

All in all, fans will appreciate having these recordings re-released for the benefit of those who don’t yet have physical copies for their collections. The rung notes are icy and typical of black metal-infused offerings, while the vocals don’t deviate from hoarse unintelligible death metal enunciations of the sort typical of ritual convocations. The tremolo-riff washes are a full razor’s grating of the strings, and the drums thud with classic ritual black/death metal production values, allowing only toms and cymbal crashes to echo throughout songs.

Black Blood Invocation have been given another opportunity to prove just how much quality their prior recordings hold. Jaded metallers and underground fans looking for new records to devote ritual seance to have renewed cause for celebration with these re-releases.

Black Blood Invocation MLP Track Listing:

01. Impious Liturgies To Baal (Intro)
02. Black Blood Invocation
03. Ceremonial Worship Of An Ancient God
04. Baphometical Prayers

Run Time: 18:16

Atavistic Offerings to the Sabbatic Goat Track Listing:

01. Atavistic Offerings To The Sabbatic Goat
02. Impious Liturgies to Baal pt. II

Run Time: 11:58
Release Date: February 28, 2018

Check out some of the tunes with this Bandcamp stream.