Artist: Salacious Gods
Country: The Netherlands
Label: Wolfkult Religion
Formats: Cassette tape / CD
Year: 2024
Thirty years of Salacious Gods. In that time, the band brought us four full-length albums, most of which were released in the late 90’s and early 00’s before a 17 year hiatus ultimately ended in 2023 when the band released the long-awaited fourth album. A time of changes in personnel and of sound nuances. Time to look back at the last 30 years with the release of ‘A Chrestomathy of Blasphemous Supremacy’, a compilation of mostly live tracks recorded from as early as 1999 to as late as March of this year.
With a bit of imagination, ‘A Chrestomathy of Blasphemous Supremacy’ can be divided into two parts, call them the past and the present if you will. The present is represented by the first nine tracks and consists of three live songs recorded in Winschoten, The Netherlands in 2024 followed by six tracks recorded at the Veneration of the Dead festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in October 2023. Both sets are rather comparible in their excellent sound quality, making for a coherent set of tracks. Coherent also in the sense that the songs from the earlier albums that had quite a different style have been tweaked for the live setting. Specifically, the songs off ‘Sunnevot’ and Askengris’, two rather symphonic records, are more stripped down to their melodic Black Metal core by replacing the keyboard parts for a second guitar. The band had taken that approach after line-up changes following the release of the second album and in the period towards the release of ‘Piene’. But as my colleague FelixS already highlighted in his review of ‘Oalevluuk’, in these stripped down forms we actually hear a lot of the sound that would also appear on the latest record. And thus, the collection of tracks that appear on ‘A Chrestomathy of Blasphemous Supremacy’ showcases material from all their albums and even includes the track ‘Dooi’npolka’, a song dating from the time between ‘Piene’ and ‘Oaelevluuk’ that was previously never released. Judging from the material compiled on ‘A Chrestomathy of Blasphemous Supremacy’, the remarkable consistency of the band, despite all the time and changes it brought, is striking and highlights the quality and determination of those involved.
For the past half of the album we focus on live recordings dating back to 1999, as well as two older demo and promo tracks. Compared to the first half, the sound quality of the four live tracks is obviously a lot more dated, but once you get used to the differences between the two sets the oldest recordings are actually rather good considering that they’re 25 years old. Obviously the biggest difference is the rather present keyboards that were an essential part of the early sound. It’s a fun step back in time when symphonic Black Metal took the world by storm, and a rather interesting retrospective listening back to these tracks in the light of the very recent revival of the genre. The compilation is rounded off by refreshed versions of ‘My Effigy Unfurled and Withered’ off the 1998 demo ‘The Slumbering Silence’ and a promo version of ‘Hexencult’ that first appeared on the ‘Mutilation’ promo before being released on ‘Piene’. The rawer and sharper sound of ‘My Effigy Unfurled and Withered’ is quite a nice change from the version that appeared on ‘Askengris’, and fits well with the icier sound that the band later adopted. The altnerative version of ‘Hexencult’ is even more interesting, as it still featured keyboards. Comparing it to the version that ended up on ‘Piene’, it provides a missing link between the second and third record, where the band moved from using keyboards to replacing it with a second guitar.
Thus, with ‘A Chrestomathy of Blasphemous Supremacy’ you not only get a compilation of well-sounding live tracks, but also a bit of an evolution of Salacious Gods. And after 30 years, it seems the band is far from done. It feels as if the band was reborn when they released ‘Oalevluuk’ last year, and a new mini album is on the horizon. And so while past and present unite on this compilation, it seems all eyes can now focus on the future.
