Corpus Christii
Tormented Belief

LA RECENSIONE

Let's talk about Black Metal, and therefore about Corpus Christii, a Portuguese band that may never have gained immense popularity, but which, in my humble opinion, we cannot ignore, especially when it comes to this album: Tormented Belief. Indeed, some elements bring into question the quality of the band and the album even before listening to it.
They come from Portugal, and the band consists of only two people, the singer Nocturnus Horrendus (a rather childish name) who is also engaged in guitar, vocals, and bass, and Necromorbus, a drummer who is a new entry, as in previous albums, a drum machine was used.
Just two people, a few killer spikes, unoriginal face painting, and inverted Christian crosses on the guitar, the band seems to present itself as a caricature of itself. But the album is not bad at all, and that's what matters in the overall analysis even from a superficial listen. For all eight tracks we have a nocturnal and evil atmosphere, dark, gloomy, and as satanic as possible in which various elements of a depressive nature play a part. A very good overwhelming and wicked Black Metal, black as pitch and terrifying. 

It starts with "Melancholy Beginning" with a powerful and destructive rhythm, in which the power of the Portuguese duo is immediately demonstrated; a nuclear and animalistic drum as well as the hoarse and mottled growl lament of Horrendus that doesn't disappoint expectations at all, especially when he extends the monstrous verses accompanied by the backdrop of a frustrating and electric guitar that makes the atmosphere as granitic and glacial as possible.
Excellent is the slower and more cadence but black rhythm of Forgotten Dead Crow in which the voice reaches different tearing tones and the guitar creates a terrifying oblivion where it's easy to discern a melodic streak that aims to represent depression and melancholy of this dangerous and utterly negative aura.
The growl is sometimes whispering and other times distorted in "My Blood In Your Hands" fast and massive, covered by a barrage of electric thunder and a rain of violence, composed of several melodic and clear chord progressions.
Beautiful is the rhythm of "Arising From The Ashes" the most cadenced song and "Devouring Your Essence" is characterized by a sharp and articulate guitar subjected to progressively violent drumming.

A bit of repetitiveness and the lack of some particular light that could illuminate the duo about some compositional peculiarities spoil it a bit, but I repeat the work achieved is very decent. In short, a more than decent work of satanic extreme metal, from a band that isn't very famous, with particular attention to the atmospheres and a very rough and dirty voice as tradition demands. An absolutely unobtrusive presence in our collection, to listen to occasionally as an interval between our favorite black artists.