The album opens with the longest track, 'Kali Yuga (The Lightning & The Moon)', which is about five minutes of chaotic blackened punk, intelaced with some gloomy death rock. The tempo is extremely high, the riffs are borrowed from hardcore punk and the vocals scream a hole in your soul. 'Ressurection' adds a hint of thrash metal to the whole, which surprisingly adds some melody to the whole.
That aspect is quite welcome because there's little to no melodic elements, let alone atmospheric parts. Instead, Cape Of Bats blast their occult black punk through my speakers at high velocity and a brutal intensity. Although most of this album will sound like absolute chaos to the untrained ear, there are these awesome deathrock influences, often reminding me of the fastest songs by Christian Death for instance.
Yet, don't get me wrong, I'm not sure if deathrock fans will appreciate the sheer violence and the haunted screams. It mostly takes me back to those obscure black metal albums that even Candlelight or Season Of Mist were quite weary of. It's occult induced punk at an insane level, only suitable for the die-hard fans and will leave the rest behind with a severe headache.
So take it from me, this album is extreme, and that's means a lot coming from someone who has seen and got used to nearly every extreme outburst of music, from metal to harsh noise. Cape of Bats takes several genres to new levels of sickness, including a bit grindcore in 'Blue Hands'. In all, 'Violent Occultism' is exactly what the title predicts and comes highly recommended if you think most extreme music is pussy-tunes.
Serge