Release Date May 1st, 2026
Format CD/LP
Genre Raw Black Metal
Origin Portugal
Black Cilice started dropping demos back in 2009 and quickly became a staple in the Portuguese underground scene. Over the years, the entity built a massive catalog, becoming a huge name for anyone digging underground extreme noise. Following up the 2022 full-length "Esoteric Atavism" and a couple of shorter 2024 splits with Sanguine Relic, the project returns in 2026 under Iron Bonehead Productions with the seventh full-length album, "Votive Fire".
The concept on "Votive Fire" focuses on isolation, transcendence, and manipulating unseen energies. The four long songs channel ancient, spaceless darkness and touch upon past lives. The whole idea revolves around fire acting as a gateway between worlds. The actual execution manages to conjure a decent trance-inducing atmosphere, dragging heavily during the longer segments.
Production values here remain approachable, keeping the signature Black Cilice identity intact. The soundscape is vast and layered, hiding the riffs under walls of static and wailing shrieks. The guitars weave weird levitating melodies. The mix brings everything together into a constant drone, burying individual instruments into one giant wave of distortion.
The songwriting relies entirely on long, drawn-out passages, with tracks stretching near the ten-minute mark. The music gets monotonous halfway through the runtime. The riffs get lost in the endless wall of sound, and the pacing barely shifts across the four tracks. It gets the job done for background noise during a midnight drive, leaving average listeners checking their watches.
"Votive Fire" offers a decent addition to the Black Cilice discography. The sheer length of the four tracks combined with the unvarying tempo makes it a tough listen to sit through in one go. It works fine for dedicated followers of the Portuguese raw scene, scoring adequately for its dedication to supreme audio filth. Those seeking varied structures should look elsewhere.
Score: 6.5
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