Artist: Penance In Blood
Country: Unknown
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital Demo
Year: 2025
Two years after the release of the self-titled debut demo, this enigmatic entity called Penance In Blood returns with a new demo. In that time not much has changed in terms of extra information surfacing, still basically nothing is known about this act; the seal is still unbroken. So, even without knowing where the project is from or who is responsible for its music, we again have to purely rely on the raw and haunting Black Metal itself and nothing else, This is probably Penance In Blood’s way of shrouding their art in even more mystery than the music itself already does.
On a musical level, ‘Now, And At The Hour Of Death’ also feels like a logical continuation of what the band has been doing before, but some clear progressions has been made. Or rather, a slight change is being made to the approach to the Raw Black Metal genre. As a whole, this latest offering is clearly less conventional. The overall tempo has dropped and the overarching atmosphere has clearly shifted to a more repetitive and hypnotic fashion. The fundamentals might be the same, but with this shuffling of the cards, Penance In Blood feels much more mature and effective.
Whereas the debut demo was a solid but ultimately rather average sounding Raw Black Metal affair, ‘Now, And At The Hour Of Death’ definitely sounds more interesting with a much clearer building of tension and suspenseful song writing. The rawness of the previous recording is still there, but it is channelled into different layers of revolving riffs and spacey effects. That way it could perhaps best be described as a mash-up between Portugal’s uncrowned kings of mind-boggling, tripping Black Metal, Candelabrum and the blistering power and hallucinatory effect of Darkspace. In the passages that the pace quickens, the music gets a chilling character. Cold and mechanical, but without losing the organic overall atmosphere. A rather unique experience that shows the scary visionary dreams of whoever is behind Penance In Blood.
Without a doubt, this is a significant step forward from what was already a solid start. To be honest, I certainly did not expect a leap of this magnitude. A pleasant surprise.
