POSSESSION (Bel) – ‘1585-1646 (+bonus)’ CD

Striking while the iron is hottest, Belgium’s POSSESSION return with a brand-new mini-album, 1585-1646. Here, the quartet go from strength to strength, melding the best aspects of their critically acclaimed His Best Deceit demo and the proceeding, even-more-feverishly-received Anneliese EP and then stirring the cauldron more potently ‘n’ poisonously. Forever committed to ancient black/death darkness but still brimming with a youthful fervor that’s blanching to behold, POSSESSION unleash four spells across 1585-1646 that take the churning, teeth-gnashing hysterics of their demo and imbue them with Anneliese’s haunting, more-dynamic poise. Taken together, the band’s growth over the past two years is startling – seemingly, they can accomplish every diabolical deed they can envision – but not once do they forget the raw, rabid edges so crucial to their formation and especially to black/death metal. CD version includes the ‘Annelese’ EP as bonus.