Band:	Bekor Qilish
Album:	The Flesh Of A New God
Style:	Progressive black metal
Release date:	September 2023

01. Defaced Background
02. Unobtainable Transformations
03. Unearthly Dominion
04. Unaware Gods
05. Enshrouding Wrath
06. The Flesh Of Terror
07. Infinite Self-Reflecting Circles
08. Beggars

What a difference a year can make; Bekor Qilish arrived in 2022 already in the I, Voidhanger mould on Throes Of Death From The Dreamed Nihilism, but the inklings of greater ambitions that occasionally reared their head on that record have grown in prominence on The Flesh Of A New God.

Perhaps this has something to do with Bekor Qilish expanding from a one-man project into a full line-up; multi-instrumentalist Andrea Bruzzone was joined by some esteemed guests on Throes Of Death From The Dreamed Nihilism, including Colin Marston, Gabriele Gramaglia and Eugene Ryabchenko, but he has relinquished instrumental duties this time around. Alongside his vocals, one can hear John Mor (guitars), Otus Rex (bass) and Nero Di Marte’s Giulio Galati on drums, and this expanded line-up may have helped Bruzzone to refine his clearly ambitious creativity.

The Bekor Qilish debut could be loosely described as progressive/avant-garde black metal; a base of dissonant, cacophonic black metal was occasionally punctuated by left-field moments, predominantly in the form of eerie synths. This generally still applies to The Flesh Of A New God, which is often-times frenetic, janky and inhospitable, but perhaps the increased runtime (from 27 to 40 minutes) gives a bit more scope for Bruzzone to explore different ideas, and the end results are usually favourable. “Defaced Background” shakes up the Voidhanger chaos by contrasting it with some more conventional extreme metal riffing and more melodic soloing, and rounds itself out with a slightly demented symphonic black metal climax.

“Unobtainable Transformations” is perhaps the standout song on the album; a typically monstruous opening transitions (or transforms, seemingly unobtainably) into an almost serene horror-synth atmospheric midsection, driven along by a gnarling bassline. The song is effectively an atmosphere sandwich made with dissonant bread, but there is a surprisingly melodic tone to the closing stages of the track. When Bekor Qilish go extreme, it’s not entirely based in black metal; there’s a tech-death oddity to “Unearthly Dominion”, a vibe that is accentuated by a sci-fi tone coming from the synths and quasi-spoken word moments, while “The Flesh Of Terror” is somewhat dirge-like in its intriguingly rhythmic, discordant, meandering nature.

The unexpected moments, while never again having the impact of “Unobtainable Transformations”, continue to appear as the record progresses, whether it be the quiet bass-only passage in “Enshrouding Wrath”, the curious combination of glistening synths and relentless blasting on “Unaware Gods”, or the peculiar saxophone solo midway into “Infinite Self-Reflecting Circles”. Generally these different ideas work well; now, I think it’s perhaps the more extreme core of Bekor Qilish’s sound that needs a bit of work for them to reach the next level. As impressively unpredictable and cacophonic as the sound is, it lacks a bit in terms of impact in the way that other wild Voidhanger bands from this year, such as Hasard and Fleshvessel, have managed to deliver.

The Flesh Of A New God is very much one for the avantgarde crowd who like their metal to be uncompromising and difficult to enjoy, but this project is also increasingly bringing some left-field melody and unusual directions into the music. Based on the steps they’ve made across their two releases thus far, it’s possible that Bekor Qilish could land upon something truly captivating in the near future.