Label: Pulverem Mortis Productions
Band: Qayin Regis
Origin: Spain
Band: Qayin Regis
Origin: Spain
No one expects the dark inquisition! On first sight, the Spanish black metallers might evoke the idea of Batushka, but Qayin Regis is something else. This debut EP ‘Blackthorn’ is their first offering to the realm of dark music and little information is available about this band.
‘Blackthorn’ kicks off with ‘Niantel’, which offers much what you’d be expecting to hear from this band. This grim and dark record explores vast crypts and impressive, vast castle walls made of cold stone. An ominous gloom is represented in the cold riffing and ghostly vocals, while the rhythm simply batters on in merciless bashes.
The band sticks with the classic black metal sound, enriched with some ecclesiastic chanting here and there. The catchy heavy metally riff on ‘Sceptre of the Shadow of Death’ also catches on in a big way. I particularly like how within the construct of the music, the vocals consistently evoke the feeling of shady halls in an abandoned mountain castle. Dark, looming shadows fill the rooms, where the unearthly denizens dwell. That’s the thing with a vampire’s abode.
The vocals are guttural, like an evil priest muttering incantations over repetitive blast beats. There’s a constant surge of atmospheric effects, over what in essence stays close to an almost death metal-esque rigidity. Pounding drums hammer ever onwards, while the guitars add minor feeling to the sound. The progression is steady on both tracks, while ‘Prunus Spinosa Litourgiya’ functions as an outro for Qayin Regis. What a trip.