What’s this? 3rd review in three days!? Yes that’s right I’ve been busy and it just clicked this time, don’t get used to it though haha. From black metal new blood in Kvaen to death metal veterans Wombbath I have now landed in more black metal realms as Immortal Frost Productions has been so kind to start sending me promo’s. I obviously had to dig right into it!

When thinking of black metal from Belgium there is really only three names that comes to my mind, Ancient Rites, Wiegedood and Enthroned (Oathbreaker in a way but I personally don’t consider them black metal). What I’m saying is Belgium isn’t really known to have a vast black metal scene so it’s fun to get a promo from a band hailing from that country I haven’t heard of before. Enter Ars Veneficium, a band that was formed back in 2013 so in all honesty they got a few years together by now. Prior Usurpation of the Seven the band have released an EP titled The Abyss in 2014 and a full-length in 2016 which was called The Reign of the Infernal King. I obviously had to give those two a listen before digging into their new release and I was pleasantly surprised. This was hard hitting aggressive black metal with blasting drums and riffs with lyrical themes of darkness, death and Satanism. Just the way I like my black metal!

While the first two records were good black metal I didn’t find them that memorable (do check out “As Flames Spread Into Chaos” and “Bringer of Light” however), were a bit inconsistent and could use a touch up on the production. Here I find the new album Usurpation of the Seven taking a big step in the right direction on all three points. The onslaught of sweet riffs and thundering drums remains but it’s more evil, wicked and simply just a showing of a band that’s had more time together, honing their craft. “Wrath of Life” is only the first track on the album but it’s already clear this song is better than anything the band has released previously. “Devour of Light” cements my thoughts as it’s just as good, by now I am certain that Ars Veneficium doesn’t play around and has made the best of their time between the albums to unleash a much better output this time around. What start as what I originally thought was a weaker song eventually becomes the relentless fury that ends “In the Fires of Eternity”, ending it on a high note and after a few listens becomes one of my favorite tracks. Funny how that works sometimes and says a lot on why you shouldn’t judge a song too quickly. The closing tracks “Under the Wings of Beautiful Darkness” and “The Flame of Endless Yearning” are great outputs as well, with the tempo-changes made to look easy in “The Flame of Endless Yearning” especially catches my attention.

In the end Usurpation of the Seven is a prime example of fast riff driven black metal done right. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before truth be told but Ars Veneficium does it very well and has risen to new heights since their last album. Fans of black metal in the veins of Sargeist and Human Serpent don’t miss out on this one!

Artist: Ars Veneficium

Label: Immortal Frost Productions

For fans of: Sargeist & Human Serpent

Release date: February 28th, 2020

Favorite song: The Flame of Endless Yearning

Score: 3.5/5 Very good