There are albums that pummel, there are albums that burn, and then there are albums that obliterate. Christus Venari by Chilean Black/Death Metal destroyers Infernal Thorns falls firmly into that last category — a record that doesn’t so much play as it detonates, reducing everything in its path to radioactive dust. This is not an album that holds your hand or builds you gently into its sound. It grabs you by the throat, rips your face off, and uses your skull as a fucking percussion instrument.
From the first riff, Christus Venari sounds like the end of the world. The guitars erupt in waves of molten distortion, blackened and relentless, while the drums pound with the kind of velocity usually reserved for natural disasters. There’s no grace period, no introduction, no calm before the storm — just immediate, unfiltered violence. The kind of sonic annihilation that makes you instinctively check whether your speakers are still intact.
Infernal Thorns take that razor-thin edge between Black Metal’s cold nihilism and Death Metal’s blunt force trauma and balance on it like seasoned executioners. One minute, the tremolo riffs scream like banshees being dragged through fire; the next, you’re slammed into a mid-tempo groove so heavy it feels like tectonic plates grinding together.
The vocal performance is a fucking masterclass in extremity. Every growl, every rasp, every echoing roar sounds like it’s coming from somewhere deep underground — a sermon screamed from the molten pulpit of Hell itself. The mix is raw and savage, but it suits the album perfectly. This isn’t music that needs polish; it needs filth. Every sound drips with sulfur, every drum hit shakes like thunder rolling through a tomb.
And while the intensity is unrelenting, there are flashes of eerie melody buried beneath the carnage — brief moments of atmosphere that flicker like dying embers before being drowned in fire again. It’s that subtlety that elevates Christus Venari above being just another blast of noise. There’s intent here, vision even, and it’s that sense of malicious design that makes it so compelling.
By the time the final track ends, you feel hollowed out. Like something’s been scraped out of your chest and replaced with static and smoke. Infernal Thorns don’t just make music — they wage fucking war. And Christus Venari is the sound of total victory, scorched earth, and nothing left standing.
Christus Venari by Infernal Thorns is out now via Personal Records.
CHOICE CUT: Illuminated By The Flames
BLACK METAL ARCHIVES VERDICT: Christus Venari is a nuclear firestorm of Black/Death Metal destruction. Unrelenting, merciless, and overflowing with infernal energy, this is an album that reminds you why Chile’s underground is feared and revered in equal measure. Play it loud, and prepare to be fucking vaporised.
