From what I understand Hellvetron is a band comprised of mainly 2 full time members whom also play in the highly revered Black Witchery, Nyogthaeblisz and Nexul. The name had arisen many times during conversations, but I never got to examining any of their recordings. Now being able to give Hellvetron a go at the speakers, it is indeed exciting. Making this an even more exhilarating outing, is the fact the members involved in Hellvetron partake in the ceremonies of the bands mentioned; hence, my expectations for this sophomore full-length release (since 2012’s Death Scroll of Seven Hells and Its Infernal Majesties) peaked to almost unrealistic levels, levels Hellvetron theurgically seemed to be clawing at.
The music on Trident of Tartarean Gateways can be described as a trance-inducing, form of death, black and funeral doom metal with an extensive insistence on milieu. When I first caught-eye of the total album length, my suspicions about the music grew, as I know often times, bands make the mistake of loading their output with more interludes and samples than actual music, primarily on these ritualistic types of records. In some cases it works in adding sagacity but also comes across as lazy if not balanced with convincing instrumentation and vocals. I was not let down here, all customs performed on Trident of Tartarean Gateways are musical showings, that even when intertwined with samples and sound effects, display precedence of decisive musicianship. The guitars are sharply tuned; throats echo and the drums follow hypnotically; plus with the bass somewhat underneath (yet still distinguishable) the treble, a thin but piercing sound is manufactured.
The sensations here expel that of an equipoised effort, in turn suggesting an ideal balance of black, death and doom metal was incorporated in producing this final result. Though being a surgical chronicle of sorts, a benighted emanation cloaks every musical note. As meticulous, majestic, crepuscular, erotic and elementary, the music and samples may be, a dagger of sweeping barbarity is unsheathed and put to work through a sanguine and intolerant vocal delivery, adding significant depth whilst exhibiting traits heard on Nexul's invocations. As a matter of fact, on Trident of Tartarean Gateways, the production with vivid clarity sticks-out in baring striking similarities to that of Nexul’s Paradigm of Chaos; even-so, in many ways Trident of Tartarean Gateways could be viewed as a more diabolical, ancestral vivification of Xaosforos and Alal’Xhaasztur. This latest scroll of spells is of a higher draconian pedigree despite the speed at which it’s played, as it’s tempo is rarely ever advanced; rather, embracing a constant cogitating velocity to sharpen the immersion. Arriving with this gift are the nefarious blessings of past sins stretched in expansion and ascension of the visions these ailing souls have kept imprisoned. Quaking; however, still carnal the resonance of ‘II. Initiation - Lustful Watchers’ is, in portraying the marriage of fornication, trepidation and funereal quiddity.
Trident of Tartarean Gateways has with it an antiquity that can be matched by only a handful of releases both past and present. Much of this can be attributed to the weight and comprehensively elaborate subject contextualized. By aid of haunting samples and effects, a throne of esoteric elitism is established further cementing the seriousness of Hellvetron’s compositions. This almost hour-long voyage does not come without a demand for patience, as songs are lengthy, and imply a dominant air of completion and consummation; one that holds a reward for those who wholeheartedly commit and embrace the volume of excellence projected through the sonic conduit.
Consecutive listens have only amplified my thirst for this material exponentially; with ‘I. Opening - Queen of the Void’ serving as a near perfect inauguration, until being supervened and usurped by ‘II. Initiation - Lustful Witchcraft’, ‘III. Blessing - Anointed Under a Burning Throne’ and the grandiloquence of ‘IV. Evocation - King of Thaumiel’. With every ritual-working on Trident of Tartarean Gateways being met with punctilious results, it becomes increasingly difficult to select a standout track; each scripture is presented in the most sincere and dignified manner imaginable; however, if it were up to me to appoint one, it would be ‘VI. Offering - Solar Dark God’; the leading riffs and samples on that summoning speak of an evil that is alien to mankind.
Only a handful of records can challenge the caliber of Trident of Tartarean Gateways; with Nocternity’s Harps of the Ancient Temples, Hell’s Coronation Unholy Blades of the Devil and recently Encoffination’s We Proclaim Your Death O' Lord being among worthy candidates. Ominous scriptures festoon these contorted compositions in an attempt to incubate and birth the chimerical into existence. This effort from Hellvetron sees them trample over anything that is below the standards set here. So many succumb to mediocrity for the sake of convenience, whilst Hellvetron and a select prestigious few such as Inquisition (Colombia) and Mitochondrion, ladder themselves up and penetrate the peak of the hierarchy, to the point of creating a new exorbitant criterion existing beyond the periphery, appearing un-achievable and quixotic to the acquiescent. Trident of Tartarean Gateways is of an ancient tablature, a testimony kneeling before the tumors of emperyal torture and solace.
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
