Corpus Diavolis – Elixiria Ekstasis

Corpus Diavolis is a French Black/Death Metal quintet which a philosophical bent alongside both the occult and satanic approaches often seen in these genres. This quickly becomes clear both in regard to how they name their tracks and albums (with the Full-length I am describing today carrying the title Elixiria Ekstasis) as well as the overall themes present within. This particular record focuses on, by the bands own admission, ‘The quintessence of this new album is drawn from divine feminine sexuality, the liberated woman as initiator, in mystical union with Chaos’ – An interesting take further emphasised with the heavy priestly iconography the band seem to prefer at the very least when it comes to their promotional material. Although I do personally hope that they also extend their hooded and robed appearance to their live performances. Not quite as overly catholic-inspired as is the case with Batoushka, but still clearly religous or perhaps more precisely pagan in outlook. But I digress. 

Returning to the musical aspect of the record, this album marks the fifth Full-length released by the band since their inception sixteen years ago, time almost certainly spent refining the sound not only of the band itself but the Black/Death Metal genre as a whole. As a result, Corpus Diavolis deliver pretty much what one would expect from this genre; A watered down version of each merged together with an emphasis on utilising the aspects of each that complement one another to elevate the nine tracks present on the record as a whole. For me, this means a relatively innocuous sound, one that I could easily have playing in the background with little to no fuss. It also means, however, that the sound itself fails to imprint onto me in any meaningful way since what I want from Death and Black Metal are different things, conveyed differently. This is also the reason why I often remark not being a fan of the mixed genres, preferring to keep them separate. 

That being said however, whether it is due to being one of the perhaps first bands to do so or due to sheer experience as musicians, Corpus Diavolis did manage to grab my attention more than once throughout the nearly one hour this record lasts – The ephemerality of the performance coupled with the empowering and near-esoteric concepts brought forth by the lyrics caused me to, one more than one occasion, delve into the textx of the individual tracks. 

All in all, recommended for fans of Deathspell Omega, Begerith and Nightbringer. 

https://www.facebook.com/CorpusDiavolis