Review by Fernando on February 29, 2024.

From the dark fens of East Anglia, The Infernal Sea! Yes, the plague doctors of UK black metal have returned with their fourth LP, Hellfenlic and this time released through yet another iconic British extreme metal label, Candlelight Records. The band has certainly managed to work their way into the upper echelons of black metal, and their last album, which was appropriately released during a worldwide pandemic, adding a touch of macabre fate, was a surprisingly excellent outing where the band truly nailed their own sound. And now, four years later, the band now delivers a new album, and with a lofty concept about the infamous Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, who led a reign of terror in the band’s native East Anglia. Does The Infernal Sea still deliver, or are they now resting of their laurels?

Well, I’m happy to say that the band once again deliver venomous and vitriolic black metal, and much like their previous outing, it’s deeply rooted in the old ways of black metal, but more interestingly, the band have officially shed their overt influences and are now fully realized as their own entity. For starters this album doubles down and relishes in the band’s sonic exploration of classic British heavy metal melodicism, and punkish black ‘n roll, while also bringing back their early sorrowful and macabre atmospherics that made them known with their sophomore The Great Mortality. In that regard, this record can be seen as their darkest yet in terms of concept and execution, as well as their most ambitious. And indeed, this is an ambitious record, while the band are no strangers to concept albums, Hellfenlic is the band delving deep and delivering a full account from the aforementioned Matthew Hopkins in the first person, each song, which is presented from the perspective of the maligned Witchfinder General, tells his full story with gruesome details, vocalist Dean Lettice with his screeching howls truly embodies the hate, paranoia and insanity of the demented Hopkins and from the first track to the last, you get the full picture of the horrors of the witch hunts that plagued Europe in the pre-Industrial age. The fact that the band so effortlessly delivered and understood the assignment of this uncanny concept that’s as relevant today as it was centuries ago is the true mark of their ambition and their talent.

However, while any concept album sounds good on paper, the music is what truly makes this record, and fortunately the band didn’t skimped on that area either. As I said, this record continues the band’s ever expanding dynamic songwriting and understanding of black metal, with added atmospherics that were underplayed for the previous record, and both elements work perfectly together sonically and with the lyrics and concept. Much like the cruelty and madness of the Witchfinder Hopkins himself, the music switches from utter brutality and fast aggression, into forlorn mid paced riffs and bass grooves and sorrowful melodies. The best tracks are, of course when the band hones into a sound, if you want thrashing black ‘n roll full of punk attitude, ‘Black Witchery’ will scratch that itch, if you want pure black metal, the first three tracks got you covered, and if you want pure dark atmosphere, stick to the end with the closing tracks ‘Frozen Fen’ and ‘Messenger Of God’, but make no mistake, the entire album is a synthesis of all those elements, and more. It goes without saying that The Infernal Sea truly hit their stride, and this is for sure their best record so far, which is impressive given how solid their body of work is.

There’s very little to complain here, even the technical aspects like the production and individual performances are at their peak in every sense, and to find faults would be to nitpick, not to mention this is a perfectly paced record and there is zero filler and each track has enough variety to work on their own, while also being essential pieces of the album as a whole. If this is the type of record that started 2024 Anno Domini, then this will be a good year for black metal, hopefully. Highly recommended.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by JD on January 13, 2012.

Getting bored with my Black Metal collection as the Canadian winter closes in on my sorry ass, I was glad to get some new music to review. USBM has been on the rise lately, and veteran BM band from Indiana Ptahil has slid across my desk to reaffirm the rising. Hopefully this will cure the boredom I had been experiencing.

This two man Black Metal machine has been on my radar for some time. I had heard one of their first offering awhile ago ("Anti-Flesh Existence") and was impressed beyond belief with the music they had made. Now I have their latest offering and I was excited to finally do a review on them. The album I had heard before was pretty good throughout, I remember. With this newest album, I was more than just interested how far they had come as I put the CD in... I was very excited.

With nine songs of pure malevolence presence that hold a feeling of raw and unabashed demonic power, Ptahil powers into your very mind, into your helpless soul. Each Satan inspired track drips and oozes this hellish command, while being straight ahead basic. My favorite track here is the tempestuous and dark attack of 'The Black Fire'- the song is very heavy, dripping with blood soaked savagery and yet it seems nearly catchy at the same time.

Simply put Ptahil are such amazing twosome of musicians, who keep every note so simple while showing that under it is all planned out. These Indiana based Hellfire warriors blow me away and they give every band out there a wake up call, proudly announcing that they are breathing down your collective necks.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.6 out of 10