When visualizing the concept of future-time in a four-dimensional model of human existence infected by the deleterious fluxion of blind faith, the ultimate vision resounds with the energy of a black void in hungered density. Returning changed from their station set outside of time Baar, Switzerland-based death-thrash metal quintet Messiah launch a seventh full-length album, ‘Christus Hypercubus‘, as an assault brimming with past-and-present character, having captured their innate selves in modes of adaptation and thriving abandon. The personality available to this bruising and occasionally unpredictable record faithfully lives up to a now four-decade strong legacy of doing whatever the Hell they want and, somehow this still means a mountain of infernal thrashing riffs.

The history of Messiah stretches back to the very locus of extreme metal having formed as a spartan trio circa 1984. Though their formative demo-era material had mutual interest in hardcore punk and early thrash metal they’d soon focus that energy into a sound which has long been considered a compatriot to that of Hellhammer, a primitive form of evil thrashing heavy metal which they’d made their own on the idiosyncratic underground classic ‘Hymn to Abramelin‘ in 1986. Feel free to stop me if you’ve heard this preamble before since I’ve written extensively about these folks in the past and I count them among my favorites of all time thanks to albums like ‘Choir of Horrors‘ (1991) and the top-tier comeback record they’d managed in cursed year 2020 with ‘Fracmont‘. I’d gone over the history of the band in my review of that album and I’ve long considered their work in the 80’s and early 90’s important for developing my taste in extreme thrash metal, specifically death/thrash metal. Their return to the studio for a sixth album in MMXX actually turned out beyond solid, an excellent reinforcement and expansion of the signature sound of the band. This seems to boil down to their working relationship(s) being lifelong friendships first and foremost, their modus for writing songs comes with the requirement to never overthink their actions but summon whatever needs to be said and done with a furor. No matter what has changed in the four years since the previous album they’ve stuck to their guns, their own strong convictions and long-proven sensibilities, in creation of extreme and esoteric ‘epic’ death-thrashing metal.

We’ll do what we want. — The most obvious challenge that the band faced on the road to ‘Christus Hypercubus‘ had more to do with their line-up rather than musical direction, as the result continues to reflect the early 90’s death/thrash metal style of the band and how they’ve expanded it since reforming. Choosing a path forward after former vocalist Andy Kaina amicably split from the band in 2021 (and unfortunately passed away suddenly in 2022) saw Messiah adding new vocalist Marcus Seebach (Taste of Tears) and onboarding producer/engineer and second guitarist V.O. Pulver (Gurd, Poltergeist) officially as he co-write some of these songs beside founding member/guitarist Brögi. While we still find their sound heavy on thrash ’til death yet groove heavy positioned movement herein the most pronounced ear-gripping trait to be found within the black porcelain cathedral of the render here is some manner of amplified speed, a heavier more violent album compared to the last. This occasionally has a sort of prog-thrash/later Coroner-esque drive to it thanks to a more active and pronounced bass guitar performance throughout, a strong source of rhythmic movement as the album fires through its first half at barreling speed.

Written in the space of about three weeks ‘Christus Hypercubus‘ might’ve actually benefitted from the use of programmed drums during the process of creating scratch rhythms as drummer Stever Karrer spent much of 2022 recovering from a ski accident and this, along with songwriting taking place separately for the first time, seems to have yielded plenty of time to develop their instinctive patchwork of rhythms at a blazing clip. — Ripping loose with a meteorite struck opening salvo “Sikhote Alin” starts with a familiar “Choir of Horrors”-esque main verse riff before ducking into chunkier groove/thrash metal refrains to keep the triplet chugging march of the song flowing. It is a good first sign that this album will take some of the same lumbering motions ‘Fracmont‘ toyed with and give them a bit more direct thunder this time around. Considering just how signature this collective moment is for Messiah we can quickly discern Seebach‘s vocals will be a great fit for the band’s sound and its concurrence with their early 90’s LPs. As a longtime fan this song immediately felt like the right stuff for this post-2017 era of the band and again generally reprised their most recent work but once the flames of the clever “Once Upon a Time… Nothing” fade and we begin to approach the middle portion of the album things will eventually threaten to get weird; Lead single “Christus Hypercubus” is probably the standout choice of a representative from Side A for a best first impression, though I’d found something new and unruly in the creeping doomed lunges of “Speedsucker Romance” past that point, even more impressed in approach of the faster stabbing speed of “Centipede Bite”. The album has sold itself well enough within those pieces alone.

The enduring vigor of the band appears reinforced by way of these faster, more involved rhythms which showcase the unique rhythmic signature of the artist at a very polished point though the ~45 minute rub of it benefits from shaking things up along the way. Stepping into Side B we find the basslines continue their somewhat virtuosic placement (see also: The Venus Baroness I”), scaling along with the riffs as both “Soul Observatory” and “Acid Fish” spread their limbs into different modes we’ve not necessarily heard in Messiah before, particularly the kind of swinging cut of the latter. In fact I’d say this second half of the album feels like a meaningful stretch beyond the almost prog-minded movements of the longer pieces on ‘Fracmont‘ but now featuring a slightly more technical (or, just better defined) touch to the rhythm section. The finale of “The Venus Baroness” parts one and two again takes us back to the more ornate side of their early 90’s work, a ‘Rotten Perish‘ (1992) level of semi-technical scale-and-shout but more importantly a reprisal of this notion that these folks have always been storytellers and in this case the surreal step of their work benefits the narrative.

The full run through ‘Christus Hypercubus‘ more-or-less corrects the one issue I’d had with their previous LP in the sense that it picks up some extra speed along the way while still leaning into some of the simpler groove/thrash metal rhythms. This’d kept the full spin reasonable enough to leave on repeat for long sessions though not every song felt equally valuable as their longer pieces still tend to hold much more weight and importance in mind for my own taste. Otherwise I’d appreciated that despite the dearth of takes on death/thrash metal available past and present Messiah still manage to sound like themselves here despite a very clean, modern and immersive production value being applied to their sound once again. That forever underground edge is still there and the dark black, grey and gold cover art and idiosyncratic lyricism all add up to a record which not only fits in well with the rest of their discography but also kinda one-ups the previous record in terms of energetic showing. A very high recommendation.

---