Beltez – Exiled, Punished…Rejected (Review)

This is the third album from German black metal band Beltez.

Exiled, Punished…Rejected is crushing black metal that branches out into melodic, atmospheric, and occasionally post-metal territories.

The songs on this album weave together the old and the new, with modern black metal influences being felt alongside more traditional second wave ones. The latter provide bite, fury, and venom, while the former supply the more atmospheric and post- elements in the band’s sound.

Overall the songs are very well-written and crafted, merging the various strains of black metal into 46 minutes of underground blackened art. I love atmospheric black metal that has a fiery fury burning in its heart, and that’s essentially what we get here.

Beltez have managed to create songs that are expressive and absorbing. The dark, malevolent atmospheres are dense and foreboding, with the band using many tools provided by their spiritual predecessors for use in the never-ending war against the light. I particularly like how the ferocity and the intensity of the band’s music rarely lets up, yet they still manage to effectively use melody and atmosphere throughout the tracks, bending them to their indomitable will.

There is nuance and depth aplenty in these songs, with the melodic and atmospheric aspects enhancing and adding to the core central aggression of the band’s music in some quite wonderful ways. Beltez haven’t limited their ambitions on Exiled, Punished…Rejected, and the results speak for themselves.

Highly recommended.