Black Cilice - Votive Fire - review
Black Cilice - Votive Fire - review
Tracklist
01. Released By Fire02. Vows Sworn For Centuries
03. Into The Inner Temple
04. Deconstruction Of All Realities
A review by
AndyMetalFreak May 10, 2026
There's often a lot of mysticism and anonymity surrounding many modern black metal bands, and that is very much the case with Black Cilice. Very little is known about this relatively unknown underground project, but what we do know is they're a Portuguese-based presumably one-man traditional raw black metal band signed with Iron Bonehead Productions, and with themes typically associated with Satanism and occultism. Following many demos, the band released the full-length debut A Corpse, A Temple in 2011, and they have released a further 6 albums since, including the latest and seventh offering Votive Fire.
When it comes to what many associate trve kvlt as, Votive Fire is exactly that; nothing comes as close to the rawness and authenticity of Black Cilice here. The production is lo-fi and stripped back to the very bone but is still very dense, creating an impenetrable wall of sound that offers a spine-chillingly foggy listening experience that certainly gives the 90s Norwegian scene a good run for its money. Through 4 hellish songs, reaching a short 33-minute length, the album offers compositions that, are for the most part, highly repetitive. The tremolos are sharp and ferocious, and of an endless loop in which you hear very little variation, while the tempo is mostly set to a moderate pace with very little disruption in the rhythm's hypnotic flow. The album is layered densely through both dramatic synths and ferocious instrumentation, with the demonic shrieking chants buried in the background echoing behind the other elements. All of this is deliberate, intent on creating a rich ritualistic ambience that's sustained throughout the album. It's spectacularly dark, eerie, and convincingly evil, almost as if you're involved in this Satanic ritual yourself.
The synths are a constant presence, sometimes offering a dark melancholic touch such as during the beginning of "Released By Fire", and other times having a dramatic hair-raising effect, like on the final song "Deconstruction Of All Realities", in which it feels like the ritual is coming to a finale. The guitar work doesn't wow in terms of technicality or memorable melodies, the rhythm doesn't often change in pattern, and the vocals are very distant and barely even audible, but that's the whole point here. The intention of Votive Fire is to make you feel like you're the focal point of a hellish Satanic ritual. You're meant to feel sheer hopelessness and intolerable suffering, like you've been dragged into the depths of hell itself where the vocals itself represents the demons who dwell there.
In truth, I've not heard another album quite like this, especially over the last few years. Many black metal projects/bands have tried over the years to keep the trve kvlt alive, but where many have failed in its conviction Black Cilice have succeeded. If you too feel like you're part of a Satanic ritual like the way in which I have then the anonymous black metal project Black Cilice has achieved exactly what it set out to do through Votive Fire.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 10.05.2026 by
Written on 10.05.2026 by
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