The two EPs were recorded around the same time – both in Black Lodge, the band’s own little den of sonic misdeeds. The underlying musical and conceptual fundaments are the same, but they take vastly different expressions.
On “Deeds Without a Name”, we find a more traditional Cultes des Ghoules sound: Black Metal heavily laden with doom influences, steeped in witchcraft and foul magic. The songs are a bit more intricate than the predominantly straightforward material on “Sinister”, but now presented in a harsher soundscape. Nonetheless, the characteristic sound of each instrument is still clearly audible: evil guitar riffs, Hellenic worship in the basswork, erratic and peculiar drumming, and marvellous use of eerie-sounding keyboards.
Cultes des Ghoules themselves describe “Deeds Without a Name” as the end of ‘a certain era of the band’. Interestingly, its companion EP is supposedly an indication of where they are headed next.
“Eyes of Satan” is the result of an improvisational trance session in Black Lodge, undertaken on the summer solstice of 2020 in solar alignment with Hell. The music is perhaps best described as ritual ambient with a core of Black Metal. The guitars are there – but with Machine’s brooding waves of distortion further in the background – as is a slower and more tribalistic take on Windom Earle’s percussive style. The music’s main driving force are the smothering layers of organs, keyboards, effects, and chants. The multi-faceted vocals of Mark of the Devil are as theatrical as ever, but here delivered more as rabid recitals and intonations.
While undeniably experimental, “Eyes of Satan” is anything but random and directionless. The course is set deep into the realms of deeply unsettling psychedelic terror.
