As names go Nun Fuck Ritual is pretty much guaranteed to get your T shirt some stern glances. Unsurprisingly the band operate on the darker side of the spectrum, somewhere in the blackened hinterlands of metal where doom, sludge and black metal all meet and where even industrial has a fleeting appearance, all combining to make one of the darkest, filthiest records you’re likely to hear. That it happens to be excellent from start to finish, really, is something of a bonus.
It was never going to be an easy ride. Opening track ‘Theotokos’ announces its presence with a tar-thick riff that takes an age to gain momentum. As noxious as its lyrical content, the track is a great introduction to the blackened, decaying world of nun fuck ritual and it’s almost two and a half minutes before the drums and vocals are added into the mix. Although stylistically it’s not terrifically different from Thorns and their ilk, there is a seedy, squalid feel to the music – a sort of lingering, greasy feel embedded into the very fabric of the song that marks this out as something special, and while the music is as heavy and inaccessible as you could wish there is a residual melody that keeps the music memorable as well as monumental. Following such a claustrophobic opening ‘Komodo dragon, mother queen’ is equally hypnotic – the music the aural equivalent of being caught in a blizzard – all icy riffs and whispered vocals providing a menacing rather than outright combative approach. It’s black metal with a heavy ambient feel and it works thanks to the devastating undercurrent of tension and malevolence that the band imbue in the song. Like Sunn O))) with structure crossed with Wolves in the throne room, it’s quite remarkable stuff and certainly a must for any black metal fans out there.
‘Christotokos’ takes things in an unexpected Black Sabbath direction, with the opening sounding like a corrupted, hell-borne version of that band’s classic song, with doom charged riffs and echoing screams filtered through static and noise. It is a harrowing, intense experience and not one for the faint of heart, particularly at high volumes. And yet it sounds amazing, particularly as the song hits its stride. ‘Cursed virgin, pregnant whore’ is the motherload however, the moment that makes you sit up slack-jawed at quite how good these musicians are. The atmosphere on this song is incredible, the guitars potent and droning, the tune memorable and everything coalesces in one glorious crescendo with synth choirs and a relentless percussive assault introduced into the latter stages. It’s a stunning, undeniably powerful song that demonstrates exactly what Nun Fuck Ritual are capable of achieving and it is a devastating moment. ‘Parthenogen’ intelligently does not try to follow with more of the same but instead develops a sturdy, Satyricon-style momentum that gives the track a suitably imperial edge alongside the general atmosphere of depravity – think Rome under Sejenaus or the latter years of Tiberius and you’ll have an idea of what to expect. The final track, ‘in bondage to the serpent’ is the darkest moment yet – a trip to the depths where even the brightest stars fail to penetrate. As the music is stripped back and the vocals laid bare, it’s hard to suppress a shudder of revulsion so hypnotically unpleasant is the effect.
‘In bondage to the serpent’ is a phenomenal album. A deeply disturbing, hypnotic, impassioned journey to the very heart of darkness, expect no quarter from the musicians and their art and prepare to lose the forty odd minutes that the record runs for, to a blackened reverie from which you’ll only wake when the final notes have long faded from your CD player. A stark place where beauty and ugliness collide and intertwine, this is a mesmerising trip that can only be described as essential listening.
