Review: Hell’s Coronation – Ritual Chalice of Hateful Blood

The Poles Coffincrusher and Zepar were already playing together in the Polish black/death metal band Deadthorn. In 2016 they both became live-members of Nekkrofukk. In that same year they also formed their own band, Hell’s Coronation. In Hell’s Coronation, Coffincrusher plays the bass guitar and the drums, while Zepar takes care of all the guitar, keyboard and vocals parts. The musical style Hell’s Coronation plays is black/doom metal. One year after Hell’s Coronation’s formation they released their debut EP Antichristian Devotion, which was one year later followed by an EP titled Unholy Blades of the Devil. In that same year, 2018, Hell’s Coronation also released a split together with Cadaveric Possession, titled Cadaveric Goatserpents’ Coronation. Last August a compilation titled Triumphant Ancient Sabbath, was released which contains all previously released tracks by Hell’s Coronation. That compilation of course is a nice option for everyone who isn’t familiar with Hell’s Coronation’s music yet, but undoubtedly also used as warm-up for what was coming next. What was coming next was Hell’s Coronation’s debut full-length, which was released on October the 31st. This debut full-length is titled Ritual Chalice of Hateful Blood and is released via Godz ov War Productions.

Ritual Chalice of Hateful Blood starts with an intro titled Levitating in Tarry Fog, a better fitting title for this intro probably doesn’t exist: Levitating in Tarry Fog is dark, mysterious and creepy, an perfect intro for this album that immediately gets you in the right vibe. Of course, the tracks after this intro are a bit heavier, since we’re still talking about metal. A lot of extremely heavy, sludgy guitars can be heard, such as in Fullmoon is the Sinister Light of Providence, as well as a bit more lingering, but still very heavy guitars, such as in I Crush the Sanctity of Christ. At some moments there also are some higher, more melodic guitars added such as in closer Ressurection Through Condemnation.

Vocally we’ll hear filthy, penetrating screams, at some moments including a nice, echoing effect, with these screams being a bit lower in Covenant of Doom, compared to the rest of the album. However, that’s not the only thing in which Covenant of Doom, the first track after the intro, somewhat differs from the rest of the album. The entire album mainly is quite slow and very doomy, but Covenant of Doom seems to be the least exciting in this and even gets a bit monotonous and predictable, especially the first half of it. This doesn’t mean that it is a bad song though, especially not because of the nice effect this has in pulling you into the music. Presumably it is a good choice to have this track after the album’s intro, so that this effect also works during the other, a bit less predictable, tracks.

The keys got some extra attention in Mighty Black Flame, Fullmoon is the Sinister Light of Providence and Ressurection Through Condemnation, giving those tracks a bit more of a symphonic effect, with Mighty Black Flame especially giving a somewhat creepy ghost-like vibe. What stands out the most in Fullmoon is the Sinister Light of Providence is the ambienty beginning of it, including the howling of wolves, to go full-throttle right after that.

Going full-throttle and pounding very heavily is something that Hell’s Coronation surely does on Ritual Chalice of Hateful Blood, may it be in a slow, doomy way though. The up-building end of I Crush the Sanctity of Christ probably is the fastest part of this album, but that surely isn’t extremely top speed.

Do you specifically want your metal fast, then this probably isn’t for you. Do you like slower, doomy, dark vibes, then Hell’s Coronation is what you’re looking for. Hell’s Coronation may not deliver something new or very special on Ritual Chalice of Hateful Blood, but they surely delivered a nice, solid work of black/doom metal.

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