Plying a puzzling brand of eerie heavy metal the band have named ‘deadly black doom’, curious Swedish entity Head Of The Demon conjure up scenes of obscure rites in cobweb-strewn dusty libraries full of occult tomes.
With its jaunty, tremolo-driven lead guitar gloom that seduces you down its winding corridors, and occasionally slipping into a meatier groove or hook, Sathanas Trismegistos defies category.
Vocals intone sparsely amongst the labyrinthine windings of each well-wrought composition and are delivered in a style of an incantation or séance. Devoid of any of the cheesy Hammer Horror samples or songtitles of the current crop of occult-themed bands, HOTD have achieved a genuinely convincing and unique sound to explore their Left Hand Path beliefs and Sathanas Trismegistos is by far one of the most interesting releases of the year.