Laconic as a point of personage as their growing voice gains skull-swimming reverberance Trondheim, Norway-based black metal band Misotheist remain tight-lipped and shadow set in their third full cycle, reaching for the minimum amount of petition to enforce their growing throng of litanies. Another potent triangulation of scenery encased in layers of obfuscation and cryptic purpose ‘Vessels by Which the Devil is Made Flesh‘ continues to craft hypnotic orthodoxy which leaves the mind starving for further elaboration, driving the participant into a frenzied devotion to understanding ’til the layers available to each work begins to hum loose in slow reveal. An exacting companion to their previous LP, this’ll have to be considered parity of experience and increased expressive depth at once in continuing the impactful mete of revelation managed thus far.

Misotheist formed at some point prior to 2018 and they’ve kept their personal info close to their chest since beyond the vocalist being involved in a modern melodeath-core band at one point (also the impressive Enevelde) as well as the drummer being referred to as V. which is likely for the sake of not creating any associations with past projects and remaining focused on the music itself. Their modus has been decidedly conservative if only in the sense that we have three albums and nine songs from the artist to date and this ensures none of their discography can be received as trivial. One listen to any of their records should leave the mind in a state of an incomplete thought yet I’ve found each release left on repeat generates its own storm of detail, ritualistic feeling, and with some appreciation for the ritualistic focus and variety of approach enjoyed by each song.

This was generally made clear enough when their debut LP (‘Misotheist‘, 2018) released yet it was still a raw and ungainly work which’d explored a style defiant of exacting categorization, something adjacent to the Deathspell Omega-incited variations on instrumentation and song structure but morose and willful in the way that Polish and Icelandic bands were throughout the 2010’s, garnering some comparisons to Sinmara and several other names but moreso for guitar voicing rather than type of statement, or, style of phrase. The two albums since that first have applied a differently atmospheric focus which is all their own, far more dramatic with each step and biting in a way which leaves a deeper mark with each spin. This has been helped along by increasing the depth and stature of their production values beyond a plainest amateur scrub-over, starting with the very well-celebrated and defining sophomore album (‘For the Glory of the Redeemer’, 2021). That second LP was not only praised to an obscene degree in my review upon release but also made it to #2 on my Top 75 Albums of 2021 as it’d held up in mind, sustaining value throughout the year beyond warranting a vinyl purchase where admiration only grew as the layout revealed its many-angled simplicity as an extra-visual personae itself.

The main arrow-point of fixation on Misotheist on my part has thus far been split between the despondent and dramatic tone of their presentation and an innate patience deployed when it comes time to generate some manner of gratification (or, reward) for the attentive ear. A fine example of this on the previous LP was their choice to leave the grand finale and the whole of Side B, “Acts of the Flesh”, as the brunt of the album’s impact. Naturally they’ve typically left their greatest impact to longer form pieces though we get three different shades, three different types of experiences on ‘Vessels by Which the Devil is Made Flesh‘. Tweaking the ratio by loading a more elaborate presentation within its first piece (“Stigma”), rallying around a shorter mid-point title track and then creating another comparably intense oversized finale means we’re granted a satisfyingly intense full-length experience in just three statements and without any too-demanding technical or over-active pulse driving them out of their cleverly developed stride.

Along the continuum we gain some general informatics on the summon of the Adversary by way of an improved but still not at all crisp rendering of the drum work while the bass guitar tone thunders with a more crisp placement which allows for the bounding rhythms of “Stigma” to hook into pulse and eventually launch the song into its many points of reeling frenzy and anchor each step when things slow to a ringing cold crawl. This is not such an irregular song structure though some of the instrumentation is challenging the impact of this song is its hypnotic treatment and the unexpected types of rhythms explore which lend us a different angle than before while still feeling entirely related to the tumult of ‘For the Glory of the Redeemer‘ and in the same strong voice. From that point we get a multi-directional dual guitar clash of rhythm to start, walking basslines and disgusted wrath feeding into one of the more violent and rapturous pieces heard from Misotheist to date as the title track (“Vessels by Which the Devil is Made Flesh”) reaches a decidedly brutal set of verses which eventually serve as openings for a rare guest vocal from IX of Urfaust who is given a birth to weird out into by way of a swaying mid-paced riff and plenty of hall filling echoic reverb. This performance goes a long way towards generating a sense of devout spiritual suffering, mania and oil-drenched desperation which caps off Side A with a commendable intensity, serving as just as much of a launch point as “Benefactor of Wounds” had on the previous album albeit without the same type of guitar melody in hand.

What is built between these three tonally related pieces thus far is an observable tension of the spirit, a level of obsession and disgust which is palpably intensifying within harried repetition and increased pacing. “Whitewashed Tombs” finishes the thought in a very complete way as a nearly ~20 minute chasmic descent, and the type of song Misotheist are probably most recognizable for per its signature turns. The patient atmospheric richness here is yet simple enough in its actual layering yet deeply thought-out in the mechanics of its arrangement, a uniquely humming machine where the bodies must be adept enough to intersect and swerve in way which could only be perfected in a practice space. Around the ~10 minute mark an extended break sets the mind in liminal space, the whirring clutch of a grave dug, sounds of mourning and burial which take me back to a similar tendency of post-black as well as the most recent Mortuus record where the immersion of the piece is directed by obfuscated sound collage before those three minutes begin to gently shake off the dirt and return to the tumult and tension of the song around the ~14:30 minute mark. Anyhow, the details available to the full listen are worthy of a fan’s attention yet the flow and function of all three songs in a row should be easily appreciated by anyone even slightly indoctrinated into the generations beyond orthodox black metal mindset yet I’d felt there were original thoughts and devious undertakings nailed within each of these songs.

The only reason ‘Vessels by Which the Devil is Made Flesh‘ may not appear as exciting as the previous album upon cursory inspection likely comes by way of it being a meaningful companion to said album in sound and modus. These are yet superficial observations aimed at an entirely consistent band, this album does well to recognize the brilliancies enjoyed prior and provides parity of experience both in matching the graphic design of the product and the production values as they give us three new experiences which extend the timeline by several leagues. If I had a complaint here it’d be that the drum production is appropriate but almost stubbornly so, escaping a certain depth of experience a more impressive render could offer. Otherwise Misotheist‘s style is still exactly to my taste, a unique variation at a high standard and a captivating sense of presentation which is unhindered by excess statement and as such all of their material has done a fine job of holding my attention for uncountable listens. A very high recommendation.

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