Artist: Occultor
Country: Romania
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital
Year: 2025
With a cover art like this, strongly resembling Chris Moyen’s, with two goats watching the moon fall apart with a dissected person on their table, it is clear that we are not actually going to find anything that will sound remotely refined or cultivated. With such extremely unoriginal artwork, one can only hope that the music matches the cover art and that these young Romanians will make their musical inspirations proud.
It will not surprise anyone, but ‘The Eucharist’ offers about 30 minutes of what is best be described of a head-on collision of Beherit, Blasphemy and Archgoat. So, the question is quickly answered: there is a serious lack of originality here. And that’s exactly how I like it, at least when it comes to Bestial Black/Death Metal. I prefer these bands to be as simple and effective as possible. Although the main influences are unmistakable, it’s good to hear that these young lads know what they’re doing. This kind of music should sound as unpolished as possible; a rough edge and a non-production are not out of place here, but rather a requirement. Which doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t actually be anything to listen to. Musically, Occultor certainly knows how to squeeze out a bunch of solid riffs, and there are even some wild whammy leads reminiscent of Angelcorpse’s earliest work. Other than that, this is War/Bestial Black/Death Metal by numbers, rumbling bass, grinding guitars, clunky bursts of rhythmic violence and barking and occasionally pitchshifted vocals. The production is rather unbalanced, putting in the drums and vocals way louder than necessary. I am sure that some people will find this annoying and want the guitars to be more prominent, but to me this bass/drum-heavy sound with the LOUD vocals actually gives the album a bit of a rehearsal/demo feeling which I think is very fitting with an underground recording like this. Very solid start for these guys!
