Artist: Ad Hominem
Country: France
Label: Osmose Productions
Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD
Year: 2025
Few bands stir up more controversy than France’s Ad Hominem. Even without having heard a note, there are already fans and haters of the band who feel called to shout and proclaim all sorts of things when a new album is announced. Perhaps this is why Osmose Productions chose not to do anything in terms of announcements; only a few weeks before the actual release of this seventh full-length album, it was offered on the site as a pre-order and promo files were passed around. Of course, this approach also does feed the constant uproar surrounding the band, but that will not keep Kaiser Wodhanaz, the man behind the band, awake, on the contrary probably…
In the past, the musician already did not shy away from controversy and even deliberately sought confrontation with unmistakable provocations. Musically, however, he has always stood his ground. Although there are obvious fans and critics of this as well, I think it is more than fair to say that Ad Hominem has more than earned his place in the French Black Metal scene.
This latest album, ‘Totalitarian Black Metal’, more than lives up to its name. In just over half an hour, Ad Hominem goes on a rampage, sacrificing just about every sacred cow. Anyone familiar with even a bit of the band’s back catalogue knows that Ad Hominem never compromised on either its aesthetics or musical direction. Over the course of 25+ years of existence Ad Hominem has only developed very slightly, if anything on the most recent albums the band sounds a bit more “rocking”, perhaps a bit closer to Carpathian Forest’s ‘Black Shining Leather’ here and there. Other than that, Ad Hominem stayed religiously (pun intended) true to their no-nonsense approach of hard-hitting and hateful Black Metal.
‘Totalitarian Black Metal’, the first album since 2018’s ‘Napalm For All’, is just an exclamation point of all that the band stood for since the band’s inception at the late 90’s. It can be said that Ad Hominem’s first offering, ‘Plant ZOG – The End’ (2002) might be a bit sloppy, especially in hindsight, but even when that certainly had its charm. Listening to ‘Totalitarian Black Metal’ now it makes you realise that Kaiser Wodhanaz came a long Way. While still heavily rooted in 90’s traditional Black Metal, the formula has been perfected and it sounds way more convincing in 2025 than ever before. Perhaps the band will forever be somewhat of the odd one out in the French Black Metal scene, but again, my guess is that Kaiser Wodhanaz couldn’t care less.
If you are into simple yet effective Black Metal that has the strongest of late 90’s/early 00’s misanthropic and hateful Black Metal vibes, this is an album that is not to be missed. Liked bands such as Urgehal, Antaeus, Lugubre and Infernal War? Give it a shot. But if you always felt afraid or offended by the band, you’d better stay away as you did before. With song titles such as ‘Snort The Ashes Of God’, ‘Choke The Woke’, ‘Saturday Night Gulag’ and ‘Stairway To Oven’ Ad Hominem again delivers an assault on good taste and manners.
