Artist: Chalice Of Eden
Country: USA
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital Demo
Year: 2025
In no time at all, the musician behind Occult Mountain and Chalice Of Eden has released an impressive number of demos, sometimes with only a few days in between. That is generally enough reason to be wary of a (major) decline in quality. Whether or not this otherwise anonymous person has a process of self-critical quality control is unclear to me, but so far he has managed to convince me with both projects. This is also the case with this latest gritty Black Metal work under the Chalice Of Eden banner.
This is demo number three and when listening to all of the Chalice Of Eden recordings in a row, it is clear that this project is still a bit directionless. The previous demo was more gloomy and seemed to have strayed from the, more or less, Black Cilice/Les Légions Noires kind of approach. This new one is actually a step back and dives even deeper into the rawer and rowdier kind of Black Metal. When the last bits of the intro fade, the first proper song kicks in with a remarkably fuzzy and distorted kind of riff that leads the music straight towards lo-fi territories. The Black Cilice comparison is back in place, but actually, ‘The Essence Of Imperial Blood’ is best described as a rather intense blend of Moonblood and the earliest works of both Nargaroth and Drowning The Light. The melancholic melodies set it firmly apart from the majority of the ultra-lo-fi kind of Black Metal bands. But it is also that melodic piece and the fact that the whole thing does not get bogged down in a total mud pool that shows that ‘Fallen Warrior’ is a gifted musician who knows what he is doing. The only thing for him that’s left to do is to find a bit more consistency and coherence, style-wise. But regardless, objectively speaking, ‘The Essence Of Imperial Blood’ is Chalice Of Eden’s best work so far.
