Portugal, land of the sun! But not only, as BLASPHEMOUS FIRE prove with their debut album “Beneath The Darkness”. It gets hot here too, but more like a fever from the heated caves of the deepest chasms of hell that roll towards the listener. Rolling is the right keyword, because the style is characterized by a certain redundancy and repetition. Riffs and the songwriting are kept rather minimalistic and brutal, so that bands like GRAVE MIASMA or TEITANBLOOD can serve as a blueprint. Whereby, and here we come to the only negative aspect, the barbaric side of TEITANBLOOD and the dark, menacing chaos of GRAVE MIASMA are not fully at hand. When I heard “Beneath The Darkness” for the first time I thought it was a mini album or EP, I was surprised that it was over 40 minutes in total. So the bottom line is, at least for my ears, there is still a certain amount of idling or parts that do not really stay in the ear and rather just ripple along by the way. You should also keep in mind that BLASPHEMOUS FIRE is by no means a newcomer, but the follow-up band to SUMMON, which released two EPs and a full-length between 2017 and 2020. Fans of the above mentioned bands should nevertheless take a listen by visiting www.facebook.com/summondeath or www.facebook.com/godzovwar