A duo of mysterious Texans around since 2002 and known only for their links to similar (and, it must be said, better) projects such as Black Witchery and Hellvetron, Nyogthaeblisz's inclination towards the dark and esoteric would be obvious even without the cover (alternate art even depicting the band members draped with occult symbology). And the lengthy album and song titles are more blunt! So even before you listen to a single second of Abrahamic Godhead Besieged by Adversarial Usurpation you are aware of what you're likely to hear, and accordingly the music lives up to expectations. Fast, relentlessly blasting occult blackened noise with riffs buried by the production in favour of echoed grunts and moans, war metal turned inward and honed into a sonic weapon. And depending on your mood and tolerance for this sort of thing, it's either terrific or utterly boring. The fact that a live drummer is hinted at but the drums here seem quite clearly programmed (or at the very least utterly drowned in electronic effects) doesn't help - if the mysterious N is a human drummer then apologies for doubting, but they're clearly a mechanical beast who should be attempting Olympic records of some sort!

And the promotional blurb describing the band as beyond black metal doesn't help any more than song titles like Qabalistic Matrix Parasitism by Extra[daemon]sional Omnimalevolence - we get it, your cyberdaemonic blackened noise/grind is edgier than the average Darkthrone worship. At least Darkthrone worship can be fun to listen to! Despite the odd slightly more infectious moment here or there (the way the aforementioned Qabalistic Matrix... throws some chuggier riffing into the mix before devolving back to chaotic battery, for instance) by and large tracks are interchangeable and hard to distinguish. The album is at its best when allowing the rawer, more intense blasting of moments like Nihiliferian Theophagism / Dysefirotic Atrocities Cull the Demiurge's Progeny to come to the fore, drowning them in the echoing vocals but having a hint of early Bathory-esque intensity nonetheless.

Of course, the song titles are fun and this is very extreme and angry and occult, but only those who actually worship Satan and listen to power electronics regularly will dig this; it will just seem like random noise otherwise, even to black metal fans. Nyogthaeblisz do succeed in making dark, angry music, yet unless your idea of black metal is closer to Merzbow than Mayhem this really isn't recommended. Antichrist Kramer (Satanic Skinhead Productions head honcho, Absurd cover artist, and frontman of Intolitarian, among other claims to underground fame) pops up on final track Khao-Psionic Merkabah Fragmentation and Godhead Simulation Decay / Revelation of the Pandaemonic Godhead to deliver an effect-strewn Satanic rant, and if any part of that sentence made you say "whoa, cool!" then this is definitely an album for you. The rest of us can, and will, safely avoid.