It seems that more and more today, people just lob the term "cult", or the newly reritten version, "kvlt", to just about everything that sounds like it was either composed by a bunch of kids who only know the basics about Black Metal in their mother's bathroom, bedroom, or garage. That or we find that it was recorded in a very good recording studio and made it sound as horrible as possible, or vice-versa. Well, Inquisition is one of these top notch cult bands, and no matter what review you look up about this release, Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult, it's nothing but praise for this act. And, once again, we are graced with it's pressence thanks to this reissue of the album. However, there comes many, many issues with this release.
First of all, how is this record considered top notch? How can someone honestly sit down with this album and give it a score of damn near or at one hundred percent, or even five out of five, or whatever the top score you may find on some websites would be. How is it possible for someone to sit down and not laugh their ass off for the first half of the album, then basically hang their head in absolute shame that this release is considered an important album of the cult/kvlt movement? Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult is a musically strong album that starts off very rocky on some rather bland guitars on the first track, "Unholy Magic Attack", but you wouldn't know that at all with that song. Right away, it's impossible to not laugh at the horrible vocals that adorn every single song on this effort. At first, you'll start to feel bad, thinking perhaps the vocalist is using some sort of voice box, perhaps he had some sort of throat cancer and had to have surgery and now much use a voice box in order to even speak. But as you listen, you can hear him once in a while emphasize some words and you hear a bit of a rhasp put on it that voice boxes simply cannot generate. So, first comes shock and hysterics, then pity, then shame that people out there consider this insanely monotone spoken word performance to be a great push for Black Metal in any form.
The best way to explain this release would be for you to picture a second wave Black Metal act that seem to be almost robotic at times, as well as a few solid Black Metal tracks, and a few songs that sound really good and cause your blood to pump. Then throw in Immortal based vocals by Dimmu Borgir's Shagrath against his will after filling him full of horse tranquilizers. That basically sums up this "epic" release. Now this isn't to say all the material here is absolute garbage. Musically this album has some really strong tracks. Sure there's a good dose of generic tracks on here, but there's also some solid Metal performances. "Empire of Luciferian Race" shows the band at their Immortal-worshipping best with a slower paced song that is well composed and actually gives you the feeling like you're surrounded by ice thanks to some of the sounds that can be found here. Then you have some of the heavier, harder hitting tracks the bring the band's Thrash influence into the mix with "Those of the Night" and others that sound really good and get you excited before it's completely ruined by the absolutely horrendous vocal performance. "Summoned By Ancient Wizards Under a Black Moon" has some real potential musically and could very well be the hands down best track on here that shows the band's potential, but then as soon as vocalist Dagon kicks in it's ruined. Right off the bat, you'd expect some kind of energy before the Thrash-oriented introductory "ugh!" kinda noise he makes at the start, but instead, all you are greeted with is a back of the throat spoken word "ah." that sounds so horrible against the music you can't help but laugh even though you are so dramatically let down. And that's not the only time it's done, as it is done constantly during the song "Mighty Wargod of the Templars (Hail Baphomet)" as well, not to mention you hear the producer at the end of "Solitary Death in Nocturnal Woods" click over and tell whoever is in the studio to do it "again" as the song fades out.
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This is not the only reissue of Inquisition's first full-length release. Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult was also reissued by two other labels. Dark Angel Records released a cassette version of this album, as did Defiled Records. At one point, there was a dual LP reissue through No Colours Records which included four bonus-tracks including rehearsal recordings of "Journey to Infernukeorreka" as well as "Unholy Magic Attack", as well as an ununsed introduction track called "Hail Baphomet", more then likely to go before "Unholy Magic Attack" on this release, as well as a re-recording of "Hail the Cult" from 1996. These songs are notably absent from this reissue, as are any bonus materials in general outside of some new artwork which looks nice, but doesn't really go hand in hand with the music found on this recording. Basically, this is a straight forward reissue for people who haven't picked up the original, or any of the countless reissues over the years.
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Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult is easily one of the worst albums you could ever hope to hear, and it's really gut wrenching. There's plenty of great songs on here that had a lot of potential. Aside the one's mentioned above, there's "Jourbney to Infernukeorreka" which is a great, stand out track that really shows off the talent the group has to write some catchy Black Metal, but the vocals ruin everything. Even the over modulated gutteral vocals found on this track that that sound more like an evil possibly demon wind passing by would better have suited the entire album. If you haven't heard this release yet, now's not the time to even start. This may be one of the most cult/kvlt Black Metal recordings ever made according to many afficionados of this style, but, even for it's time of release, it's pretty much just a ruined gem by one sole person: Dagon.
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