[ALBUM REVIEW] Mysteriis - Hellsurrection

Genre - Black Metal 1. Hellsurrection
2. Nazarene Shall Fall
3. Hall Hath No Limits
4. Ave Mysteriis II - the Second Coming
5. 66 Infernal Legions
6. Torment on the Tomb of Christ
7. Vatican Decays
8. Heaven's Monotony
9. Temple of Disease
10. Outro / Profecia

Recently reunited and eager to spread their satanic gospel throughout the black metal realm, Brazilian band Mysteriis have coalesced once more after their rather uninspiring stint as Darkest Hate Warfront to release only their second full length album, and this isn’t just any old resurrection, it’s a fucking hellsurrection! Aren’t they clever? You’d think given the tragic album title, horribly trite cover art and the band’s history you’d expect to music to be similarly shallow and intolerable; I was certainly prepared for the worst, but the material present on Hellsurrection actually isn’t as dreadful as I initially anticipated.

The first half admittedly lags behind significantly compared to the latter half of the album contains the stronger material. From the off you’re initially struck with just how poor the production is, it’s a plight that hangs over the album continually; the guitar tone is far too clean and clinical, which is a shame as they can sew together some impressive riffs and harmonies which are scattered throughout Hellsurrection. A good deal of murk and grit would have added so much more to this album.

Execution wise, although fairly formulaic and extremely predictable, the songs hold their own and occasionally there are some inspired moments such as the soloing in the second half of the opener and “Torment on the Tomb of Christ” which is arguably the strongest track here along with “Heaven’s Monotony” and it’s rather quirky Arabic styled guitar flurries. Agares’ guttural rasp is sufficient enough but far too one dimensional, something which could be said of the majority of the album, it all kind of just coagulates into one big pool of extreme mediocrity. At times there’s even a few keyboard passages  spread within but they’re sparse and sounds as if the band aren’t too sure whether they want to take the melodic road or not.

I would liken their sound to mid-period Ancient and at times there are shadows of Emperor circling, but for the most part it falls within the ‘safe’ category that Ancient themselves eventually fell into. I suppose it’s no surprise the mid era Ancient vocalist Lord Kaiaphas makes a cameo as does Lord Belial’s frontman. It’s vicious and harbours a good deal of intent with all the elementary aspects performed well enough  but when push comes to shove it’s nothing more than an a severely average black metal album, something of which there are enough of infesting the planet as it is.

As far as a showcase for Brazilian black metal goes though it never had a huge scene to begin with, I don’t think Mystifier have much to get concerned over, there are better artists out there. It lacks the unique characteristics and variety which is needed to elevate a band such as this to the next level.  There’s all manners of blasphemy and unholiness crawling out of every orifice here and if that’s your thing you might find something present, though I struggle to find a reason to go back to it really, for although an improvement on the previous (that wasn’t hard), it’s still too much of a non-event.  

5.5/10

Sounds like - Ancient, Patria, Emperor