Anti-Cosmic Tyranny: leading the faithful in maximalist ritual Satanic worship

A.M.S.G., Anti-Cosmic Tyranny, Profound Lore Records, CD PFL119 (2013)

As we zip towards the end of 2013, it’s high time we had some serious Ritual Satanick Worshippe here and who better to swing the thuribles of burning sulphur in anti-clockwise procession and lead the daemonic choirs in throaty guttural hallelujahs to the Dark Lord than Ad Majorem Satanae Gloriam, a duo from Edmonton, Canada. We’re allowed to call them A.M.S.G. for our convenience ‘cos we’ve yet to endure the necessary initiation rites into the hallowed inner circles of priestdom. “Anti-Cosmic Tyranny” is the band’s debut full-length and second formal release since forming in 2007 (an EP having been released in 2010).

One surprise here is that plenty of jazz and saxophone are featured in the music, adding a smoky and rich element to proceedings. Subterranean noise murmur that might have been mistaken for a Merzbow release makes a brief appearance as well. Generally the music is restless and skittery, never settling for very long in a particular rhythm or riff loop. The harsh, crabby, complaining vocalist has a lot of chanting, declamation and invocation to do in each song – the lyrics are incredibly dense – so perhaps it’s no surprise that his constant grumblings border on camp. Guitars are so raw they almost bleed. The drums probably could have a deeper and more thunderous sound and rhythm but as they are, they hold up the runaway strings and bass rhythms, all over the house sometimes, well enough. Interesting vocal effects, mysterious samples and some experimentation with sound and ambience adorn most songs to achieve an atmosphere of palpable evil and a clear darkness.

Most songs are invocations and appeals to various levels of the daemonic hierarchy. One’s got to be careful to address the right daemon in one’s prayers for each and every one of Satan’s little helpers is a jealous being who guards his or her allotted territory of evil incarnate. All tracks have their own intricate details that push them into above-average levels of Satanic musical worship but a couple of tracks, “Sacrificial Chants of Cosmic Separation” and “Gnosis Granted from the Bloodline of Fire”, stand out. The first of the two features extreme vocal gibberish and has an air of dark derangement which is amazingly clear as well. “Gnosis …” has some memorable doomy riffing and weird juxtapositions of fast, choppy passages with scrabbly vocals and slower sections of slashing guitar riffs and droning saxophone howl. Final track “Bone, Blood and Blackthorn” includes some bass-heavy Sunn0)))-styled riffs and vocal susurrations and yawns among the generally busy music.

Probably the one thing listeners will take away with them after hearing this album is the duo’s dead-set serious attitude towards ritual Satanism that informs the guys’ extreme maximalist approach. So wacky and deranged the album turns out to be that it’s sure to be on a lot of people’s lists of most outstanding black metal albums for 2013.

You know the boys are deadly serious about their path in life when they list as their band duties “hostage taking” and “suicide bombings”.