Artist: Clandestine Blaze
Country: Finland
Label: Northern Heritage
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2025
Despite the band’s rather modest start with a couple of bit too standard releases, Clandestine Blaze’s rise to underground fame started with 2002’s ‘Fist Of The Northern Destroyer’ and ‘Deliverers Of Faith’ from 2004. Ever since, this band’s releases are eagerly awaited. With a decades spanning career it should go without saying that not every album is equally good, but the overall quality offered by Clandestine Blaze is exceptionally and surprisingly high.
Despite or maybe partly because of all the controversy surrounding the band and it’s sole member, Mikko Aspa (maybe even more known for his vocal work in Deathspell Omega), Clandestine Blaze continues to stir up emotions. But although everyone is entitled to their own opinion and free to express it, there is no denying that this thirteenth album by Clandestine Blaze is once again nothing short of extraordinary.
On the one hand, ‘Consecration Of The Blood’ offers exactly nothing that knocks you unconscious in terms of originality or unexpected twists and turns. This in fact is a through and through Clandestine Blaze record, but that means that it will uppercuts you to higher levels when it comes to Black Metal elitism. I am not easily using terms like “masterpiece”, but the cold and hateful Black Metal, with the strongest 00’s connotation, is just a plain Black Metal masterclass. The icy and repetitive riffs and eerie melodies are expertly woven together and offering a firm base for Aspa’s trademark rasp.
Yet it is mainly Aspa’s ability to write such captivating songs that holds far more dynamics than Darkthrone, yet still mimics that band’s 00’s riffing power. The slower parts are menacing and have a smothering power, while the fast bursts echoe that old school Black Metal character like there hasn’t been two decades of musical progression since. That versatile soundscape is what makes ‘Consecration Of The Blood’ another fine example of riff-only Black Metal being at least as compelling and overall overwhelming. It proves that with a handful of great riffs, sufficient tempo changes and an impeccable sense of song writing, Black Metal as a whole doesn’t need much else to be this good. Take a listen to the excellent ‘Insatiable Shadow’ for instance, that main riff is just equally as good as anything Darkthrone recorded for albums like ‘Hate Them’ or ‘F.O.A.D.’.
It is needless to say that none of the controversy is taken away with the release of ‘Consecration Of The Blood’, and my guess is that Aspa is just fine with that, but it shows that not only revenge, but also sheer hatred and pure misanthropy in musical form is best served cold.
