After five years, six full-length albums, and two EPs, I don’t think my adoration with the French entity of Esoctrilihum is that much of a secret. The name has been a true constant in my listening and reviewing habits since the first album, and it’s with every year that has come after it that has seen a new effort from the name that always delivered what would always end up being one of the year’s best performances in my eyes. Extremely few have been able to come even close to the level of madness and power that Esoctrilihum has constantly brought to the table with its staggering concoction of darkness, melody, hybrid psyhcedelia, and true catharsis making every album feeling as though it’s better than the last. Continuing down that wartorn path, it’s yet again with the name’s seventh album that I found myself stunned and bloodied.
Immediately, when I first stepped into the new opus of “Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh”, I noticed that the album wasn’t as expansive as it the normal case for Esoctrilihum with how dense yet explosive of a sound the band has become all but known for. It’s here that we’re given seven tracks that stretch out to just barely under a 41-minute runtime, practically a whole 15 minutes shorter than the previous shortest work from the band, but where Esoctrilihum effortlessly makes up for it is in the realm of how aggressive, nihilistic, and viciously dark the record is even when put in comparison with its predecessors. It’s right away that it becomes clear that “Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh” is a “normal” performance from Esoctrilihum even after years of honing its sound and even dabbling with other styles in small part so that each record has its own identity. Here, there is not much to discern about this record outside of the clear, otherworldly rage that permeates every minute that’s brought forth. Still holding onto all of the hallmarks that has always made Esoctrilihum a true master-class example of what it means to take black-death metal towards the very peak of what it can become, the raw, uncapped fury here truly shows us a side to the band that, up to now, we only thought we knew. Everything that comes before this now feels almost restrained in some sense, but it’s every given aspect of “Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh” that’s focused in its nihilistic tendencies as it’s now more than ever that Esoctrilihum shows its true disgust with creation as the very terrors beneath the flesh, those of spirit, burst forth in excruciating detail to form an effort that is just as horrifying as it is gripping in its harsh truths.
Much like a Lovecraftian elder being, this album is the sort of effort where the more you surrender yourself to it there more mad it drives you to become, but there is simply no other route to truly experiencing what this album has to offer than doing just that. Esoctrilihum has long been a vessel for the madness-seeking listeners who venture throughout the most treacherous realms of the underground, but it’s single-handedly with “Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh” that Esoctrilihum has yet again crafted something entirely on its own level with all those left in its wake suffering a torture the likes of which simply cannot be ignored.
“Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh” releases on June 17th via I, Voidhanger Records!
LISTEN to an advanced track from “Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Esoctrilihum on Facebook here.
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