Artist: Cultus / Pest
Country: The Netherlands / Germany
Label: Heidens Hart Records / Nuclear War Now! Productions
Formats: Split LP
Year: 2024
With strong ties between bands and labels, with multi-instrumentalist Arjan being found in Cultus as well as Pest and running Heidens Hart Records, this split LP (co-released by Nuclear War Now! Productions, co-responsible for the vinyl reissue of (almost) the entire Pest discography) may come as no surprise. But the element of surprise lies mainly in the fact that both bands have been quiet for quite some time. This is the first new material from Pest after the death of their drummer Mrok who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2011, and from Cultus this is even the first new material since 2008. That alone makes this appearance on vinyl a more than interesting event…
First up is Cultus. Although ‘Gezeteld In Zegeruïnen’ was released back in 2016 (Heidens Hart Records/New Era Productions), it is actually an album of reworked songs from ‘A Seat In Valhalla’, the band’s debut album from back in 2004. That makes this new split LP indeed technically the first new material to surface in over 15 years. And judging from these new songs it is clear that Cultus is far from being done. On the contrary, I would say. Although I am usually not a fan of re-recordings and other rehashing of old tracks, but ‘Gezeteld In Zegeruïnen’ turned out to be a marvelous records that easily stands within the ranks of the best Dutch Black Metal records of all time. With their strong melodic and Pagan nature, these new songs fit seamlessly with the overall sound and spirit of ‘Gezeteld In Zegeruïnen’. A clear yet raw enough production does full justice to what Cultus stands for anno 2024: a powerful riff driven Black Metal band with a compelling sense of melancholic melodicism. If you’d listen back to the band’s earliest recordings and compare it to what Arjan pulls off now, that is nothing short of astonishing. As a bit of an extra treat there is a cover version of Mordaehoth’s ‘Verdoem Al Het Christelijk Leven’, a track taken from the cult ‘Eens Weer Prevaleert Het Heidens Hart’-demo from 1998 – obviously the name giver of Arjan’s Heidens Hart label. This cover version is a really great rendition that both pays homage to the historical and musical heritage of Mordaehoth as well as giving it a completely new guise – with the great keyboards it even reminds of Abysmal Grief. To wrap things up here, these new Cultus tracks are also meant as an appetizer of things to come, as the long awaited new full-length album is already recorded and hopefully sees its first dawn this year.
Pest, the German one – just be clear, has never been a band to fit within the traditional frame of Black Metal. With a rather unorthodox way of song writing they laid a foundation on which the signature maniacal vocal barrages found fruitful soil. While the band’s initial sound is deeply rooted in the Black Metal of the Eastern part of Europe (Poland/Czechia) it is a clear mash up with the cornerstones that made Norwegian Black Metal popular in the mid 90’s. Subsequently, Pest became a band that was loved by many but misunderstood by even more people. While not necessarily fitting in the same profile of bands like Master’s Hammer, Maniac Butcher or even Veles for instance, in a way they do bear a bit of a parallel spirit. At least in the nonconformist way of writing music. Mrok’s untimely death meant the end of the band in 2012, as the band didn’t wish to continue without him. While that was an understandable decision, the somewhat unexpected return was a welcome surprise for fans of the band. It was maintained that Mrok could not be replaced and for that reason positions were switched among themselves and thus the Pest signature remained unaffected as well. And judging from these new tracks, it is clear that the band succeeded in preserving that special Pest sound and spirit, in fact, it sounds as if nothing happened and the band has never been away – in fact, there is no stronger way to honor a deceased band member. These four new tracks continues the path taken years before and suddenly ended on the posthumously released ‘Buried’-album in 2014. It is still about the typifying unorthodoxy that brings together the low-end bass and unusual riffing to lay down the path for the possessed vocals. Also these tracks are a lead up to a new and already recorded album that is hopefully to surface somewhere later this year as well.
