Metal Underground.com

Blasphemy and hate have served as the cornerstone of black metal for two decades now, and one man act Idolater exudes both in every song of the band’s debut full-length album. “Black Sexual Blasphemy” doesn’t beat around the bush or dress up the message with any unnecessary extra elements. The album is 50 minutes of relentlessly anti-Christian sexual perversion screamed at full force, and it doesn’t bother trying to be anything else.

From opening song “Monolatry” to the closing title track, sole band member The Idolater uses every instrument at his disposal to spread godless lust and assault Judeo-Christian values. His howls and screams almost never leave the subject, sending out waves of hellish sounds to batter the audience. A phrase like “hate filled” almost doesn’t do it justice, as The Idolater takes the idea to a new level.

The level of heart and emotion that went into the music is readily apparent, and there are times when the lyrics even manage to be poetic in their spite. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of times when it seems like The Idolater is just screaming whatever random anti-religious thought popped into his head at the moment, instead of using black metal growling as a legitimate vocal approach.

On the instrumental side, the music is fairly impressive for all being done by one man. There is a lot of blast beating, but it’s not nearly as ever-present as with a good deal of other black metal acts. The guitar work is unquestionably the best aspect of the album, giving the album life where it might otherwise be boring or forgettable.

Despite the interesting and complex guitar tones, “Black Sexual Blasphemy” does suffer from the bane of all extreme metal: repetition. There is essentially no variation to the vocal work at any time, the themes always remain the same, and the level of hateful intensity is almost never dropped. All those elements work together to ensure that no one song is ever really distinguishable from any other song. While an individual segment or even a whole track may be able to keep a listener’s attention, the music as a whole just sounds the same. The tracks are all also much longer than they need to be, ranging between five and ten minutes in length, with most around the seven minute mark.

Even with the repetitive nature of the music, the album is still a great example of what one person with a passion for a specific style can achieve without label support. “Black Sexual Blasphemy” is definitely something to check out for anyone who likes their black metal spiteful and sacrilegious.