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Erbeet Azhak – Only the Vile Will Remain Review By Tyme

I’ll take “Global Notables” for $600, please, Ken—The clue: Country famous for its waffles, chocolate, beer, and castles. The answer—What is Belgium?! Correct! Belgium is also home to some pretty decent black metal bands—Lugubrum, Enthroned, and Wiegedood, to name a few. Here to add another branch to that blackened Belgian family tree is Erbeet Azhak, the side project of one pretty busy Corvus von Burtle—C.V.B.(Cult of Erinyes, Wolvennest, LVTHN, Aerdryk). Erbeet Azhak’s debut album, Only the Vile Will Remain, helmed by his Cult of Erinyes bandmate and all-around metal maestro Déhà at Blackout Studio, promises to stand “as a manifesto in which hatred and chaos coexist under the dominion of a faceless yet resolute entity.” Let’s plant the dark seed of Erbeet Azhak’s Only the Vile Will Remain together and see what slithering roots sprout from within.

Erbeet Azhak’s black metal is desolate and chaotic, but doesn’t stray far from trails travelled by C.V.B.’s other projects. Still, it finds him further flexing his vocal muscles, which are a mix of everyman blackened rasps alongside tonal shouts and growls that sound a lot like F.O.A.D.-era Nocturno Culto. Even as Erbeet Azhak brings C.V.B.’s own guitar and bass talents to bear, guest musicians S. Iblis’s (Possession) lead guitar, Onbra Oscoura’s (Abyssal Vacuum) bass, and Laye’s (Putrid Offal) drumming flesh out a sound palette that explores several black metal styles. Sargeist lurks in the riffs of galloping melodicism present on “The Wings of Liberation,” just as Blut Aus Nord fans can belly up to a bar stocked with blasting beats and decaying dissonance (“Lecherous Angels,” “Death to the Self”).1 Further examination finds traces of Aosoth in the near blackened war metal of “Only the Vile Will Remain,” while devotees of doomier plods ala late-era Darkthrone should find comfort in the folds of “Erbeet Azhak.” Despite what seems such a mixed bag, Only the Vile Will Remain encases its twists and turns in a production that provides sonic consistency.

Raw but nuanced, Erbeet Azhak packs as many interesting details into Only the Vile Will Remain as Luciana Nedelea did her excellent cover art. I particularly enjoyed the engaging guitar leads that creep amongst the riffs and blast beats of “The Weakness of Our Cycle” as much as I did the intriguing riff patterns and spacy, atmospheric interlude that hijacks “The Inner Circle” around the 2:45 mark, segueing into a really nice melodic guitar solo. Iblis’s performance warrants particular note, as he peppers the whole of Only the Vile Will Remain with lots of satisfying, melodically intricate solo work not present on most black metal of this ilk (“The Wings of Liberation,” “Death to Self”). C.V.B.’s performance on the mic also deserves a nod. While he’s never contributed in this way on any of the other projects he’s involved with, save Aerdryk, his vocals fit what Erbeet Azhak does well and add a layer of gravelly, gothic tension and menace. The vocal cherry on top, however, belongs to Zd from LVTHN, whose inhuman screeches absolutely haunt the back-end passages of “Lecherous Angels.”

While Only the Vile Will Remain isn’t a sprawling, over-bloated behemoth by any means, it could benefit from a little nip and tuck. Erbeet Azkhak traverses the many planes of its black metal existence with relative ease and is most compelling when song lengths provide enough room for all the transitions to develop. Evident even on the albums second shortest song, “The Wings of Liberation,” which transitions from a galloping mid-pace to a blast-furnace passage before moving on toward a guitar solo flowing with melodicism and then back again, all within the span of 4:06. Ironically, this leaves the 3:46’s of the title track stuck in my craw as the album’s most boring; its straight-forward, blast-beat-overloaded war-metal approach sticking out sorely amidst the much more atmospheric fare on display. Cutting this and the mostly superfluous intro would have left Only the Vile Will Remain a more lethal beast.

Erbeet Azhak hasn’t revolutionized the landscape of black metal, neither in Belgium nor in the broader, raw-as-misanthropic scene in which Only the Vile Will Remain operates. Those intrigued by the name drops above should find something of value here. I know I got more than I was expecting. For now, I’d say there’s a fresh sprout on the Belgian black metal family tree with Erbeet Azhak’s name on it; whether that grows into a sturdy branch or not, only time will tell.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Amor Fati Productions
Websites: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 20262

#2026 #30 #AmorFatiProductions #Aosoth #BelgianMetal #BlackMetal #BlutAusNord #Darkthrone #ErbeetAzhak #Mar26 #OnlyTheVileWillRemain #Review #Sargeist

War Productions Nov 15

#Mailorder
#Amystery Extermination, Followed By Cryptic Silence
7€+🚚

1st album & the beginning of the kvlt
Via #PestilenceRecords
FFO #Vargsang #TotalHate #Sargeist

https://war-productions.org/product/amystery-extermination-followed-by-cryptic-silence/

#WarProductions
#SupportTheUnderground
#BlackMetal
#BlackMetalCD
#GermanBlackMetal

Ryan2one3 Sep 10, 2025

Thanks #Mastodon for introducing me to this awesome #BlackMetal album. Brings me back to 2000's black metal and peak #Sargeist !

#AncientTorment

https://open.spotify.com/album/0tjYkkWJD3laUDzTkMK4cb?si=QHbYfo0wTEOe4_aKx4_Mkg

Follow the Echo of Curses - Album by Ancient Torment | Spotify

Ancient Torment · album · 2025 · 6 songs

Spotify

Angry Metal Guy Jul 5, 2025

Beleth’s Trumpet – Chapel of Bones Review

By Tyme

Beleth, recognized as a king of Hell with 85 demonic legions under his command, was the 13th of the 72 spirits summoned by Solomon. When first invoked, Beleth often appears as fiery and furious in various forms, ranging from that of a wizened old man to a demon with a man’s body but the head of a cat.1 Primarily called upon by those seeking to establish or strengthen a love relationship, Beleth purportedly arrives riding a pale horse with many musical instruments, mainly trumpets, playing before him. Why do I impart this amount of demonological information? One, I think it’s pretty fucking cool, and two, there’s not a lot of information available about Finland’s Beleth’s Trumpet. Formed in 2023 with only one EP under its belt—the four songs from which were reworked and included here—Beleth’s Trumpet communed with Dominance of Darkness Records to release its first album, Chapel of Bones. Will this blackened Finnish foursome be the troupe of musicians chosen to herald the demon king’s arrival, or will they be relegated to the seventh circle in need of more practice?

Beleth’s Trumpet plays straightforward black metal of the early 2000s variety. Chapel of Bones, a rawly produced tremolo-fest, is primarily a harbinger of Shatraug’s coming as it so closely mirrors the earliest works of Sargeist and Horna as to be nearly indistinguishable. Those familiar with Satanic Black Devotion or Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne will have heard most of what Beleth’s Trumpet is doing here, albeit with less aplomb. Goecrus and vhvvdth tremolollygag their way through Chapel of Bones’ nearly forty-three minutes in sprays of undulating guitar waves with no solos in sight. Deathcripple, yes, Deathcripple lays down loads of blasphemous blast beats and cymbal splashes that, when combined with the bass work of M.SF, who also performs some nicely multi-layered vocals, serve as the steed upon which Beleth’s Trumpet rides. Black metal of this ilk relies heavily on the strength of its songwriting to convey emotional weight engagingly, and where Shatraug has become a master of this, Beleth’s Trumpet has work to do.

Safely confined to its lane, the guitar lines and melodies on Chapel of Bones suffer from black metal banality. Storming forth from Hell’s Gate, the uninspiring “Triumphant Voice of Beleth,” with its pallid guitar progressions and less than accurately executed leads, gave me of little faith, not much hope for the future. ‘Safe’ best describes most of the choices Beleth’s Trumpet makes, which consequently impacts memorability. Most of the songs on Chapel of Bones pass by in a kazoo-like haze, a litany of tremolo-drone that zaps engagement quicker than the mind-erasing gadget from Men in Black. And it’s for this reason that, aside from what I first thought was someone eating chips in the mic during the intro to “Chapel of Bones,” the title track and others (“Clandestine Ritual,” “Death’s Cold Hand”) left no impression on me whatsoever.

Harsh as I’ve been on Beleth’s Trumpet, there are some glimmers of a band that might be. With its solo bass intro, “Mass Grave (of the Angels)” sets itself well ahead of the pack with shimmering cascades of tremolos that sound almost hopeful as they simultaneously launch into memorably melancholic progressions. Add to this the inclusion of some light synths in the background for dramatic effect, and the track wins Chapel of Bones’ best-in-show hands down. Other standout moments include the bass plucks of “Black Light,” which ring out like tolling bells, or the miasmic, dissonant guitar progressions of “Extermination of God’s Dominion” that move like a drunken sailor navigating an undulating ship’s deck and, while off putting at first listen, grew on me with repetition. These spurts of quality, though, are just too few and far between to elevate the whole of Chapel of Bones beyond mediocrity.

With a cool concept surrounding the demon king Beleth and the many instruments that precede his arrival, Beleth’s Trumpet missed the mark by settling for too safe. I mean, I didn’t hear one fucking trumpet, and I believe that leaning further into the concept by weaving a smidge of symphony into a style so traditionally bare-boned would push them over the edge and onto the map as a band to watch. As it stands, Beleth’s Trumpet has promise, and I’ll be interested to see what they do after laying this Chapel of Bones to rest.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Labels: Dominance of Darkness Records | Korpituli Productions Bandcamp
Websites: Bandcamp | Instagram
Releases Worldwide: July 1st, 2025