MYSTIC CIRCLE

Still one of Germany's best kept secrets, MYSTIC CIRCLE have been unearthing supernatural horrors and blasting like madmen for the last three decades. For those in the market for some eviscerating blackened death metal, this review would like to refer to you to the band's recent studio albums, "Erzdämon" (2023) and "Mystic Circle" (2022). But although they have been resolute in their commitment to infernal violence over the years, MYSTIC CIRCLE are no purists. 25 years ago, they released "Kriegsgötter II", a five-track EP comprising three cover versions and two distinctly atypical originals. It revealed both what we already know (everybody likes BATHORY and CELTIC FROST) and what we didn't: that the band led by Graf Von Beelzebub have rather more imagination than their surly reputation had suggested.

Fast forward to 2025, and "Kriegsgötter MMXXV" is an updated and upgraded version of the same, with three new additions to the tracklist, and seemingly enhanced artwork. There is an inevitable aroma of "fans-only" about the whole thing, but as a doorway into MYSTIC CIRCLE's world, it could hardly be more inviting.

One of the chief selling points here is the imperious return of Sarah Jezebel Deva, who has also been making a stealthy comeback with THE KOVENANT. As MYSTIC CIRCLE power through a majestic, maximalized version of BATHORY's unfuckwithable "One Rode To Asa Bay", Sarah's iconic vocals shine through, ethereal and exquisite. Even better, a newly re-recorded cover of IRON MAIDEN's "Afraid To Shoot Strangers" is a triumph. Aside from providing a gentle reminder that the MAIDEN's Blaze Bayley era produced some magnificent songs, MYSTIC CIRCLE add a psychedelic edge to the bombast, with Sarah's elegant soprano a mortal counterpart to Beelzebub's unholy growl. It would not be an exaggeration that this version trounces the original with room to spare.

Elsewhere, "Kriegsgötter MMXXV" is a curious mixture of straight-ahead renditions of certified classics, and oddball detours through the atmospheric dark. From the original EP, "Die Götter der Urväter" is more in keeping with MYSTIC CIRCLE's trademark sound, particularly circa the millennium's dawn. A fiery, blackened mini symphony with blizzard blastbeats and multiple, ominous tempo shifts, it is both avowedly traditional and subtly bizarre. "Azazel's Soulfly" is something else entirely. Several miles down the spooky rabbit-hole, MYSTIC CIRCLE meddle with classical music, modular synths and oscillating musique concrete, as if charged with providing the soundtrack to some exotic psychological horror flick. Similarly startling, the band's take on the theme from "The Lost Boys" will send '80s fetishists into a tumescent frenzy. It has much more than mere kitsch value, as the Germans respectfully evoke the original, but with a gangrenous, death metal twist.

The rest is a simple matter of giving the people what they want. POSSESSED's "Death Metal" is given a vicious kick up the backside by musicians that once had copies of "Seven Churches" nailed to their turntables. "Acheron (Medley)" (a medley of songs by death metal legends ACHERON, in case that wasn't clear) is a seven-minute, white-knuckle rampage, with some of the sickest, most horror-drenched riffs in history. And as the fetid icing on the cake, CELTIC FROST's "Circle Of The Tyrants" is brilliantly dirty, lo-fi and grim, and very much in the feral spirit of the '80s.