Blasphemer
Ritual Theophagy

September 2016
Released: 2016, Comatose Music
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz

Given the fact that The Metal Archives lists no less than a dozen bands claiming the moniker of Blasphemer (and likely countless more hashing it out in garages across the globe), the bar was already set pretty low for expectations for originality around RITUAL THEOPHAGY. But this apparently long running Italian quartet (not the first, not the last version of Blasphemer) does manage to dole out a surprisingly effective brand of working class brutal death metal.



Challenging Profanatica for the most overtly Anti-Christian tracklist of the year award, RITUAL THEOPHAGY swaps the usual tomes of gore, misogyny and mutilation for some good ol’ fashioned Christ bashing. And as goofy as this may sound, it’s honestly kinda refreshing. Sprinting through 28 minutes of ultra-technical death metal with an engine fueled by blast beats, tracks like “Suicide for Satan”, “Antichristian Extremity” and “Obscuring the Holy Light” recall the finer sonic moments of bands like Malignancy and Pyrexia and the dexterous speed of old school Broken Hope. The sprinkling of horror movie quips in between the tunes is a familiar but appropriate touch – particularly at the intro of “I Deny”, where a pair of Italian gents argue passionately in their native tongue about what I can only speculate to be about which cafe makes the better espresso.



RITUAL THEOPHAGY not only delivers exactly what you’d expect from a band named Blasphemer, but also some delightfully vile death metal along the way too. Enter the ritual at your own risk, go brutal or go home.