America may be the land of God, Guns, and amateur porn, but we can also raise up some seriously brutal Metal. It is my great pleasure to introduce a breath of fresh air in the Black Metal community, XANTHOCHROID. The gods are pleased with this offering of Metal bass ass-ery. "Blessed He With Boils" is a truly great Cinematic black metal album with hints of Folk and Symphonic Metal thrown in, just because they can. The result is fucking brilliant.

The album opens up with a simple piano driven instrumental "Aquatic Deathgate Existence", and ends with the melancholy acoustic piece "Land Of Snow And Final". The in between runs the gamut from snarling screams and unearthly growls to melodic acoustic folk and back to vibrantly epic symphonic pieces, complete with choir. Sam's vocals are simply awesome as they flow from menacing to mild. The guitar work is outstanding, both acoustic and electric. The whole album is very well written, intricate yet solid, and takes you from humbling folks melodies to throat punching riffs in mere seconds. Drums and bass really create a melodic foundation from which the keys and guitar can really build upon. Some great examples of the extremes this album goes through would be "Blessed He With Boils", "The Leper's Prospect", and "Land Of Snow And Final". Of course, one cannot forget the flute, an instrument that can be either too gimmicky or so dominated by the other instruments you don't even know it's there. Neither is the case on this album. For that I say, thank you.

"Blessed He With Boils" is an amazing work that really needs to be heard to enjoy. For those who are lovers of DIMMU BORGIR, MOONSORROW, OPETH, MOUNT EERIE, and WINTERSUN, I believe this album will find much favor with you. For a rating I'd say 8 out of 10. Until next time, stay well, and live free!