Ceremonial Worship – Seven Gateways to Eternal Misanthropy

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CEREMONIAL WORSHIP is a Black Metal band from Greece, formed in 2016. They released two EPs and a split, before their first full-length earlier in 2022. This is their second release this calendar year, and the album contains eight tracks. “Intro” is the first. It’s a short instrumental where the mood is sullen, with a touch of evil. “True Evil in Me” is the first proper track. The production is pretty bad, with an overly-treble sound in the guitars. The drummer whacks away in record speed, while the bass player keeps a slow and steady approach. The vocals aren’t overly present, a common thing in the genre.

“Death from Mountain Hills” is another harrowing sound. The band is fairly good at adding tense tones and then making them build, but the amateur nature of the music comes through also. “Opus Blood” features some thick vocals that when added together sound like commands from the Underlord himself. The music stays steady and even to allow the vocals to take center stage. “Vomitous Moon” is another song with these frightening vocals. The music could use a little work however. At this point in the album, it is beginning to falter, with an over reliance on simple riffs, and smooth bass and drums.

“Path of Burning Ambition” features a slightly jovial and almost Punk sounding riff. But the vocals remind you that this is not Punk music. “Vanishing Heaven” closes the album. It’s a shorter song with a more straightforward riff. As with many of the other songs, the repeated pattern of riffing does give the music a mesmerizing quality. Overall, you gotta give a Black Metal band a little credit for not just re-creating the sounds form the FWOBM, because there are a lot of them out there doing that. That being said, it was still just a mediocre effort, with simple riffs and vocals, along with elementary drumming.

Songwriting: 4
Musicianship: 4
Memorability: 3
Production: 5