The unquestionable destiny written by the hand of Death reasserts itself on this seventh full-length album by way of Curitiba, Brazil-borne black metal quartet AMEN CORNER who remind us who it is that brought men down to the realm of the dead, freed us in their fall away from him. Having already nailed a potential classics attuned (yet quality of life improved) vision of a future-self roughly eight years ago these ‘old school’ black metal fellowes return to restate and refine said approach, commanding a first wave inspired early second wave borne voice on ‘Written by the Devil‘. Fans of the ancient mid-paced forms of black metal who’ve no qualms with clean but characteristic vision should appreciate the simple efficacy of the old ways in their hands.

Amen Corner formed circa 1992 as one of the first black metal bands (alongside Murder Rape) from their region of southern Brazil (Paraná) wherein their early sound took inspiration from the first wave (Venom, mostly) and non-Scandinavian traditions of the early second wave (Samael, Mortuary Drape) not unlike the early efforts of Mystifier up far north and Impurity towards the center of the continent. Today these bands are all generally well accounted for, most all’ve reissued/remastered and reformed their classics, but only their early-to-mid 90’s Cogumelo released entries breached the perceptions of more than die-hard collectors prior to the mid-2000’s, at least per my own experience. Amen Corner were neither the best known group nor the most original among that loosely gathered list but their first demo tape (‘Eternal Prophecies‘, 1992) and debut LP (‘Fall, Ascension, Domination‘, 1993) were a bit less sloppy and less prone to copping riffs as many of their perceived peers at the time. I particularly appreciate their work with original drummer Paulo Costa as his style and approach to double-bass drumming was a big part of their signature for the span of four releases throughout the 90’s. Costa and second guitarist Mané had left by 1996 and in their wake the peak of the band’s classic era remains the hugely underrated ‘Iachol Ve Tehilá‘ (1995), the point where some faster-paced pieces and their use of keyboards lead to a more thrashing and menacing version of their original sound. Most folks interested in the band today are primarily interested in that original 90’s era style and sound.

By 2000 most all of the band’s line-up had been replaced beyond founding guitarist Murmúrio and that’d meant the signature sound of Amen Corner was resigned to mid-paced ‘old school’ black metal with non-specific production values and little continuity beyond the artists guitar work. I am not a fan of this era of the band but it is worthwhile to give ‘Leviathan Demise‘ (2010) a closer listen as the band’d returned to Cogumelo for their next two records and seemed intent on reviving their classic style back then with returning original vocalist Sucoth Benoth (ex-Infernal) who’d been in the band Camos in the interim. From my point of view the best thing to come from the semi-reformation of the band was some interviews/documentation that’d arrived with their 2014 album and while all of this provenance, history and a just-alright set of albums released since 2010 made good on some of their earlier promise Amen Corner had neither recreated the magick of the old stuff or outdone it in a profound way, they did however respect the old ways. The way forward beyond the 2010’s has been a focus on a higher standard while still meeting the expectations of their long-standing name in Brazilian ‘old school’ black metal, an even more nostalgic LP (‘Under the Whip and Crown‘, 2018) seemed to be the right direction with the production values amped and the vocals slightly more over the top than usual and that’d largely set the expectations moderately high for ‘Written by the Devil‘.

If we set aside the precedent for Amen Corner‘s personae and auld sound for a moment and view this album in a vacuum alongside their previous LP their style on ‘Written by the Devil‘ could easily be categorized along the lines of recent work from Mortuary Drape wherein an element of slower-paced but still thrashing movement and 80’s heavy metal inspired songcraft inform their path. As we step into opener “The War of the Antichrist” and hit the nauseous wander of its opening riff there is a clear sense of ‘self’ past-and-present available to this moment but it isn’t long before the actual strike into song carries us to Celtic Frost-esque groove, rolling steady and rattling off noisome leads atop the rest. Simple as its arrangement is this song does what any great opener should, tempers the ear for what is to come and rouses the spirits into momentum, and in the process they’ve introduced a strong and pronounced bass guitar tone from Fernando, the newest addition to their fold. His work is even more prominent in standout jog-paced haunt “The Protectors”, there you’ll likely get the first wave black feeling more distinctly in terms of movement and presentation. This is well enough in line with what the band’d been working on with ‘Under the Whip and Crown‘ and thus far we are getting something slightly more straight forward, fewer riffs and more time spent developing their central groove.

The main reason I’d taken a closer look at this record was not only the strong pair of opening pieces and their conjoined momentum but how they’d carried that mood and motif into the extended standout “Fall and Ascension“, probably the most doomed piece on the album per its introduction and the first we hear of pitch-shifted vocals finding their way into the narrative style of the vocalist on this record. The build-up of this song is perpetual, lingering as if about to break through ’til the very last moment (~5:58 minutes in) when it finally does just enough to finish the thought. This modulation of tempo over a span of time is brilliant in its effect and is something fans of early Samael should appreciate up front. Side A feels entirely relevant one moment to the next, sewn together in mode and narrative enough that the first half of ‘Written by the Devil‘ that it feels substantial, or, the nature of the band’s approach is justified in effect and the directive of the album is not only clear but somewhat tuneful. Per my own listening experience I have to admit I wasn’t all that excited to jump into a new Amen Corner record to start, not expecting much, yet that first half was entirely convincing in terms of an authentic sound, an occult purpose, and a performative stroke which is pure heavy metal when all is said and done.

The only real challenge here’d been keeping the momentum going throughout Side B as “Inferno” grinds in before “Written by the Devil” vamps and stalls its way through one of the more theatric moments on the album, once again playing with pace in a manner which is inherently entertaining and finding profundity in exaggerative performances. Around this point it feels like they’ve nailed that ill-advised spirit of early 90’s non-Scandinavian black metal, not exactly putting on an early Root level of weirding but not standing all that far from the fire either way. The full listen kind of dies at the point, unfortunately, as “The Splendour of Your Presence” isn’t much of a thrill as a closer beyond compounding the Venom-esque ride Amen Corner have always deployed and “Lúcifer, a Suprema Luz da Manhã” is largely a four minute horror landscape with narration in Portuguese (I assume), a dark sound collage which acts as a 4+ minute outro.

It isn’t a perfect presentation yet there isn’t much to reasonably complain about when taking into consideration expectations, history, and/or how this record builds upon the previous work of Amen Corner and presents a viable nowadays version of that without forgetting their deep underground notoriety. Folks who know the band’s style and sound well should be more than pleased with this personification though newcomers might not immediately get the small, ultra-specific niche that’d birthed ’em. It doesn’t necessarily sit as pristine in mind as, say, the obscure blasphemic freakery of ‘The Final Celebration‘ did back in the day when I first discovered the band but I think these folks have done well to replicate that core inspiration and take it forward a few decades without losing its infernal fire and selling out to bad nostalgia. A moderately high recommendation.

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