Review by Vladimir on November 20, 2023.

Today I am going to go back to check out a new release from a band I once covered, that being the black/death metal band Morbid Sacrifice from Italy. In this review, I will be covering their second full-length album Ceremonial Blood Worship, due to be released on November 24th via Godz Ov War Productions.

From the very get-go, you will hear that good old bestial black/death metal which rips the living flesh with overly aggressive tremolo picking riffs, slow drumming and blast beats, amped up with harsh growling vocals, although this time it seems that the band has managed to up their game a bit since the last time. The songs are much more vile and wicked, giving a stronger edge to the immense riffing and drumming, even during slower sections like on third track 'Bloodsoaked Salvation'. The band certainly gave it all they got to make their best effort with both slow and fast sections in every song, for the purpose of conveying a blasphemous vibe with feelings of utter hate and misanthropy. In comparison to their previous album Communion Of The Unholy, Ceremonial Blood Worshipsounds and feels a lot darker and more menacing, especially with the kind of raw energy that the songs create. Aside from their original material, they also included a cover of one my favorite Sodom songs from "Persecution Mania", that being 'Conjuration'. I must say that they did a good job while covering 'Conjuration', and also added a bit of their own by having both WitchFucker and ThroatVomit sing during verses in their own vocal style, although personally I feel that WitchFucker's harsh shouting black metal vocals seem to fit the song better, especially during choruses. Nothing against ThroatVomit's vocals by any means, but they do at times tend to feel a bit silly during certain sections when the growling voice sounds as if he's trying to imitate Goldar from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, especially during tracks such as 'Serpent Of Abomination' and 'Bleed For The Horned King'. If you manage to look aside from this small issue, then you really have nothing to lose here. Another great thing worth mentioning is the fact that the band received an upgrade in form of a new logo by the great Christophe Szpajdel, which fits perfectly with their music and also with the front cover art Pietà from 1575/1576, one of the last paintings by the Italian master Tiziano Vecelli known as Titian. Productionwise, I must say that it's quite a raw and brutal sounding album, which I must compliment for its final output for not having a second of thin guitar sound.

Morbid Sacrifice certainly went ahead of themselves while working on Ceremonial Blood Worship, which easily surpasses all the efforts of its predecessor Communion Of The Unholy. It is indeed a very traditional bestial black/death metal album in terms of its overall execution, but it certainly ended up being an ambitious output that fought its way through from start to finish. Definitely give this one a go if you're looking for something that would please a fellow war metal fan and make you go ÖUGH!

Rating: 8.2 out of 10