Corpus Christii
- Story by Cosmo Lee
Portuguese black metallers don't mess with Texas
Don’t ask Nocturnus Horrendus, vocalist/guitarist/mastermind of Corpus Christii, about the Portuguese black metal scene. He won’t answer. In a Portuguese publication, that scene once voted Corpus Christii “most hated and worst Portuguese band of the year.” According to Horrendus, “It seems that some people around here, or in metal overall, don’t take it very well that there are individuals taking their music and ideology very seriously, especially when it comes to Satanism and black metal.”
Those folks should be more appreciative. Putting his money where his mouth is, Horrendus runs Nightmare Productions, a label/distro that’s one of Portugal’s few purveyors of underground black metal. He also helms black metal bands Coldness, Morte Incandescente and Storm Legion, and collaborated with Noktu, head of France’s Drakkar Productions, in the infamous Genocide Kommando.
Corpus Christii, however, is where Horrendus’ heart lies. Naming a Satanic band “the body of Christ” might seem odd at first. But Horrendus’ brand of Satanism goes beyond simple “fuck your god” sloganeering: “If Man is the creation of God, why not imagine God as the highest level of man—how he sees himself? A man with good and bad sides, a man with a smile and a knife in his hand. God is Satan and Satan is God—there is only one.”
While you try to wrap your head around that, drown in the sea of sorrow that is Rising. Its production and musicianship are Horrendus’ most advanced yet. Early efforts like 2000’s Saeculum Domini and 2001’s The Fire God were fervently and ferally old school. Over time, the sound diversified and ditched keyboards; see 2004’s split with Thesyre, which beat Darkthrone to the F.O.A.D. title.
While Horrendus cites Darkthrone, Mayhem and King Diamond as early influences, he walks his own left hand path now. “These days I think I don’t really get inspired by anyone, since I’ve managed to do my own thing. And besides, I [have] always tried to avoid listening to black metal while composing/recording.” Thus, the blast beats and tremolo picking on Rising are as scathing as ever, but other colors seep through. “The Wanderer” lurches around like an alcoholic in the desert, slow and doomed. “Revealed Wounds” glints with eerie clean tones, while “Torrents of Sorrow” has clouds of wrenchingly dissonant chords like a blackened Morbid Angel.
The question naturally arises: Will Corpus Christii ever play in their namesake Texas city? Horrendus finds the idea, um, horrendous. “Some brain-dead people from there come wondering why my band has the name of their city. They don’t even know what the fuck it means! So, no, I’m not eager to go visit the place.”
