Acknowledging Sweden as a Death and Black Metal hotbed takes only a cursory knowledge of the underground, and lurking just behind all the massively hyped names of the 1990s were a number of bands that seethed with originality, talent, and authenticity. Lord Belial is a premier example of just such a band. Emerging in 1995 at a turning point of the decade, Lord Belial eschewed the oncoming wave of drop-tuning and Pantera cloning by unleashing feral blackened odes to the horned one without compromise. Many years later, after a big layoff and a return in 2022, Lord Belial releases Unholy Trinity, proving that the comeback was anything but a one-off.
Released on June 27, 2025, through Hammerheart Records, Unholy Trinity begins right where 2022’s Rapture left off, with fiery proclamations of Swedish Black Metal intensity. Opener “Ipse Venit” crushes, leaping from the speakers with fast-picked riffing and squealing leads. Tomas Backelin and Nicolas “Pepa” Green provide the foundation of what Lord Belial has always been about – the double guitar attack and Black Metal that breathes from the six-string. No orchestration, or departures, just straight-ahead Metal attack. Backelin’s harsh throat and riffs are underpinned by his brother Micke Backelin’s percussion battery. “Glory To Darkness” hammers forth to keep this album’s pedal to the floor.
The melodies contained within it are precisely the sound this band tailored, along with the likes of Dissection, Dawn, and Necrophobic. The atmosphere lives and dies by the guitar, where the quite bombastic and classical playing always retains its ferocity. Old Slayer is as much worshipped here as the aforementioned glory of the 1990s second-wave Swedish Black Metal. The two styles are blended well.
The icy anthem “The Whore” is an example of black metal riffage and building tension that breaks into a satisfying cacophony midway through the track. But it is not all savagery. The stately mid-speed stride of “The Great Void” shows a more languid and beautiful approach to songwriting, where just enough keys to lay down a good atmosphere evoke the better parts of 1990s Dimmu Borgir.
The hammer-blast of the closing anthem “Antichrist” is an endurance show for Micke Backelin, as martial riffs crash down until a far more melodic and powerful chorus. The keys return – again, just enough – with some Iron Maiden-style flare and one of the best guitar solos on the album at around the 5:00 minute mark. This song is an album highlight, for sure.
Having leapt to notoriety with their 1997 sophomore release, Enter The Moonlight Gate, Lord Belial proudly proves with their second return album that the dark and foul magic that bewitched their early years has not waned. They sound determined and inspired, unmoved by weak trends or cut corners, and for that reason, Cryptic Rock gives Unholy Trinity 4 out of 5 stars.
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