Review by Felix on September 1, 2025.

Back in the nineties, I was two weeks on vacation in Portugal. Our self-catering accommodation was in Nazaré and it was actually a lovely holiday. But there were also two disappointments. I didn't meet this supposedly famous Jesus of Nazaré (or did he come from somewhere else?) and on 1 October, most of the bars and restaurants closed from one day to the next. End of season, see where you can eat, stupid tourist. Fortunately, there's still a month left until the end of September this year, but I'm afraid that after that, you'll only be able to hear two or three songs of "Pérfida Contracção Do Aço" and the rest will hibernate.

So let's enjoy the album all the more intensely until the magic Portuguese time barrier falls. The quartet celebrates a fantastic mix of different kinds of extreme metal. The dudes bastardize thrash, black and, in smaller portions, punk and death metal and spend an additional touch of violent hysteria. The vocals have a lot of facets, from manic depressive to pathologically relevant to aggressively desperate. They alone lend the album the character of a wild dog that hasn't got a bone since Christmas. The song structures do not make it easier for the listener. It is not just the raging, many faces revealing title track which demonstrates that Filii Nigrantium Infernalium spit on conventional parameters. By the way, they do it with courage and conviction. But besides all the relentlessly attacking parts, a few Celtic Frost influenced tones pave their morbid way. This welcome ingredient appears later in all its glory in the epic, fanfares presenting "Vaticanale", especially in the "Circle Of The Tyrants" compatible leads and some weltschmerz lines of the lead vocalist. Thus, the diversity of the songs contributes to the album's impression of intellectual flexibility and compositional class.

Filii Nig… and so on are aware of a fact some extreme metal combos love to forget many times. They know that a certain degree of catchiness is no bad thing. Thus, they have created formidable sections like the dramatic, violent and furious chorus of "Christo.Rei.Animal", which is embedded in a dystopian scenario of alarming guitars and menacing bass lines. Yes, it is pretty amazing that the band creates a confusing whirlwind without stealing the listener any chance of orientation. Maybe it takes a little time to align the own rotten mindset with the even more rotten one of the band and this could be the reason why the opener is solid and destructive, but not among the best songs. Anyway, the longer the album lasts, the more it spreads its apocalyptic, anarchic vibrations. Don't be fooled by the almost traditional riff at the beginning of "Má Criação". It's a cool opening, no doubt about it, but even this piece houses blast beats dominated sections which could be the soundtrack for the next genocide.

Osmose is the company that released "Pérfida Contracção Do Aço" and this alone guarantees a very good mix. Everything sounds vigorous, juicy and pretty devastating. It is probably a stale slogan, but it is true: these Portuguese take no prisoners. Honestly speaking, it does not matter. The main thing is that Filii N. I. have retained their sense of clear contours and a good sense of melody, while at the same time jumping back and forth between chaos and carnage. So don't fall victim to the similar artists list. I really don't see what the band has in common with Moonspell, with the exception of the origin, of course. A hybrid of Estertor, Impaled Nazarene and Bewitched, this is what we get here – and it is simply cool, great and fascinating. I really hope it stays that way beyond the end of the summer season.

Rating: 8.3 out of 10