Benedicere completes The Devil & The Universe’s dark trinity of full length releases. This release was inspired by the Christian mysticisms around the Virgin Mary. Opening with Ascension which reminds me initially of a funeral cortege from The Vampire Lovers before exploding into a bombastic, martialled church organ fuelled march. The perfect opening fanfare! Epic! Dei Genetrix -sinster and mysterious atmospherics! Nice! Immaculata – a mystic dark/goat wave assumption assault on the dancefloor! Love it! Hail! Mary great use of religious film samples reminds me of The Keep’s score by Tangerine Dream. Ora Pro Nobis Deum– Great use of samples to, a futuristic ritualistic masterpiece baptised in darkwave and goatwave! Love it!
Elousa a prayer given a dark twist. Nice! Mater Dolorosa – creates an air of disturbing dark devotion! Great!
Nikopoia– a great slice of ritualistic music which will work well on the dark dancefloor! Road To Damascus -brings the standard album to a close conjuring up images of dark disturbing convents. Nice!
The bonus album opens with Into The Center Of The Earth a track to send a shiver down the spine! Threat is cover of Claudio Simonetti from the filmscore for Demons. The Devil & The Universe totally eclipse the original, great samples and added tempo make a classic!
Next comes a cover of Joy Divison‘s I Remember Nothing given the trademark goat wave instrumental touch. Nice! Immaculata appears as an extended version – a darkened Goat wave epic to burn the dancefloor! Great! Benedicere a mesmerising angelic ritualised dirge. Crank it up! Love It! Ave Maria brings the album to a close with a slice of haunting atmospherics. Yet another masterpiece and yet another reason to ensure you catch The Devil & The Universe live in 2016!
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