Intending a logical carve beyond their long-developed past which capitalizes upon the possibilities unleashed within the omnidirectional death-storm of their debut album a couple years prior Copenhagen, Denmark-based blackened death metal trio STRYCHNOS return with a clarified sense of self on this sophomore full-length album. Steeped in apocalyptic bombast, peaking black metal dramatism, and their own choir of endtime horrors in the hall, the intense voice which ‘Armageddon Patronage‘ develops defies any too-obviate lineage or imitation. Their work is shocking in its leap into cohesion yet curious in the many bold leaps it takes without any one secure barrier to contain the path forward. If you’d felt they’d been too ambitious and myriad in their interests in the past I would suggest that the skill level and conception in mind land most successfully here on album number two where it seems they’ve built grandiose enough vehicle to accomplish their lofty goals herein.

Suggesting that this is a continuation of where they’ve started with ‘A Mother’s Curse‘ (2022), a fine debut LP which I’d reviewed favorably upon release, Strychnos have more-or-less picked a direction here and made a conscious choice of where their next evolutionary leap might lead. The semi-melodic blackened death grooves of that album now give way to a sometimes hymnal, empyrean form of dark death metal with violent black metal streaks enough that it feels like ‘Armageddon Patronage‘ is eclectic enough to represent past works while providing firm enough ground for their castle to spike up from. That said the strike of gloom-ridden unrest, the chunking mid-paced death metal grooves, and dark metallic touch of their black metal-raised spiritus still carries through even when things reach their most bizarre highs (“Endless Void Dimension”) and run-on lows (“Nattevandrerinden”).

In miserable celebration of death through explosive cathedralesque rouse, the points of interest here are frequent yet unpredictable in shape as Strychnos reach for their own freshened territories within each of these eighter dramatic pieces. Rather than puzzling through style points the well-attuned listener will be better off approaching this release with patience as the appeal of the running order is how it reveals itself in stages. This is for the sake of a reasonable amount of exposition, a presentation which offers less of a pure riff album and more of a grandiose event a la a certain era of Polish black/death metal (Hate, Azarath) and the more exaggerative side of Swedish and especially French blackened death nearby in the early 2000’s. With this broad generalization in mind and this band capable of a wide array possibilities I’d suggest not counting on any one song from this album as a blueprint for its overall range, or, not making any direct judgments until the bulk of Side A has revealed itself. Even still the second half of the album has its own fluid sense of movement otherwise.

Opener “Winds Warning the Final Storm” and the adjacent title track feel like they’ve been carved from the later-era stretches of Orthodox black metal, particularly in the way that each presents itself with eccentric vocal outbursts, a declarative tone, and underfed death metal grooves. To help enhance this effect cavernous yet explosive sound design lends a dark, intricate and generally fine-grained production value (via Lasse Ballade at Ballade Studios and Tore Sjerna of Necromorbus Studios) which allows for their tragedian declarations to feel like a caustic rant ’til the group-sung chorales and such kick in on standout piece “Choking Salvation”. At this point it becomes less important to begin identifying the stylized intent of the trio and instead appreciating the sprawling dark empyrean lilt of their work, big shout-along verses and all. We’ve gained some key knowledge over the course of the first half of the album but things don’t fully begin to flesh into view until we’ve resolutely carried on beyond the mid-point. Their lotus expands dramatically then and their.

It turns out what Strychnos‘d been working towards on Side A was not only some manner of obvious consistency but a broader-seeking oeuvre and one that takes about four songs to get a better sense of what is fully there on reprisal and what’d helped this group find their focus. For my own taste the major piece of the puzzle that’d gone missing at that point was some manner of doom-level dramatism, slower and sombre songs, though the opening to “Pale Black Birds” comes closest it was “Endless Void Dimension” that brings that slower more deliberate chunk of song to round out their larger first impression. The song has its own curious choices made such as clean vocal verses, morbid choirs, and an overall surreal yet groove-dragged movement rather than any sort of predictable doomed result but the effect is yet effective in giving the album its overall character.

The dramatic value of ‘Armageddon Patronage‘ has sold itself by the time we get to Side B but this only seems to intensify beyond that point, and continues to present the most vital and demonstrative work from the band throughout the finale. As we step beyond the somewhat overwrought “Pale Black Birds” the unavoidable transgressions of “Stanken Af Dyd” center around the focal point of their chorale arrangements as Strychnos brings those haunting choirs to help to build the apex of that song into a moment which reinforces the general bulldozer energy and split channeled guitar runs spiraling around the rest of this record. Otherwise one of the most key songs for my taste here is “Sweeping Storm of Suicide” as a destination for horror and riffs to pile up before the sweeping, nigh progressive hum of “Nattevandrerinden” ends the general momentum of the event.

While I’m not sure ‘Armageddon Patronage‘ is memorable enough in its arrangements to stick with me for years to come I did however find that their version of a blackened soul outsized in its entertainment value, their execution of personae beyond the uncertain yet tuneful first stab of their debut impressive at every turn. They’ve done well to focus in on a singular voice which is dynamic and satisfyingly dramatic in its realization rather than puzzling for its sub-genre ambitions. Broader strokes drafted within a much clearer directive was of course the right choice to make here and it makes for an easy to recommend experience. A moderately high recommendation.

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