Lightning Swords of Death - Baphometic Chaosium
This Los Angeles-based band is one that I’ve actually seen live once but for whatever reason, I didn’t remember much about them. I think the main reason is that they had a Black/Thrash sound that is pretty mundane here in San Francisco. In the home of Bay Area Thrash, having a core sound that is essentially the same as everyone else isn’t exactly something that will make you stand out, even if you’re from out of town. A lot of local bands draw their influences from Slayer, Exodus, Possessed and Metallica, even to this day. Thrash isn’t “different” here. It probably explains why I never bothered with them in the past. With two previous albums and a split-LP with Valdur under their belts, I thought it might be time to check them out. The most interesting bits of Baphometic Chaosium are the atmospheric parts, such as the Ambient interlude, “Cloven Shields.” It has a dark and eerie sound that is very much in the vein of Horror Movie soundtrack music. This track segues into “Chained to Decay,” which is slower and heavier on the atmosphere. “Epicyclarium” is another cut that has interesting atmospheric elements. It’s the straight-forward Black/Thrash tracks that are the most generic and uninteresting parts of Baphometic Chaosium. When these guys ditch the atmospheric stuff for the basic guitar-based brutal Thrash attack, they lose a lot of what distinguishes them from other generic Death/Thrash bands. Songs like “Oaken Chrysalis” (I consider the last two minutes of that track to be an outro and unrelated to the rest of the song) and “R’Lyeh Wuurm” are just okay sounding and have little about them that sticks out. This LP is a 50-50 split between songs that are really good and ones that are just “blah.” When Lightning Swords of Death are on their game, they fucking kick ass. When they go the safe route with basic song structures, they lose a lot of their identity. One thing I have to mention, though, is that the sound on this LP is amazing. The fact that you can hear the bass guitar and that each instrument is clearly discernible puts Baphometic Chaosium near the top of the heap when it comes to good production. The studio engineer really knew what he was doing when this album was produced. If Lightning Swords of Death can meld the darker atmospheric stuff in with their Black/Thrash style a bit more, we could be looking at an epic next album. Baphometic Chaosium is good, but there are still tracks that are lacking in identity.
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