Vehemency
The picture on the cover of Vexing Verses, the second full-length of The Arrival of Satan, implies quite successfully what to expect from the album: truly maniacal and schizophrenic underground black metal. It is not uncommon to witness such topics as madness and insanity in black metal - think of the well known Silencer, for example - but luckily this isn’t too crowded area, so that albums like Vexing Verses sound enough refreshing, although one could definitely nod to e.g. Mütiilation’s direction when it comes to influences.
Razor-sharp guitars keep slitting your throat with discordant melodies while the drums set the rhythm and pace for this abominable scenery that lasts for nearly 40 minutes and doesn’t let of its grip until the end. The first few songs are at blasting speeds and signs of slower tempo are not in view until the fourth monster ”Aborted Voices” with its torturous riffs and the mad shrieks and spews of Necropiss - you could think of Azaghal’s Varjoherra to get an overall idea of his vocal output. After the fourth track, there’s some stagnation to be found here compositionally - even if the album possesses that menacing atmosphere throughout - but it all shapes up when the seventh song ”Fascist Whore” (the lyrics are even better) begins. ”She’s Dead” and ”Unworthy” culminate the album in somewhat mournful spirit yet still retaining the insane atmosphere therein.
Vexing Verses can be a vomit-inducing experience in some circumstances (I would avoid this in hangovers) and that could very well be one of the album’s purposes. Those who can endure filthiness in their black metal and even enjoys it at least to some extent, Vexing Verses is recommendable as it does its job very satisfyingly. Speaking of filthiness, don’t expect that so much production-wise: even if the album is raw and rough, this isn’t just mere rehearsal sound material, no, all instruments are nicely audible; all the sickness spawns in the compositions themselves. True masterpiece tracks are, however, missing but the album works well as a full whole.