28-minutes of expertly executed and well written black bile performed with more conviction than one-hundred ‘standard black metal bands’ of today.
“Pale Chalice have unleashed their debut EP, ‘Afflicting the Dichotomy of Tepid Creation,’ brandishing scathing black metal most akin to the earlier work of Swedish masters Craft. Hornet’s nest guitars and thick rumbling war drums are coupled with mid-tempo, dissonant grooves that together evoke postapocalyptic madness rooted in traditional black metal ethos. The sweltering mass is coated by anguished howls still sizzling from radiation burn. Pale Chalice set themselves apart from the milieu of ever degenerating ‘black metal’ buffoons in generating forward thinking and unmistakably modern black metal that does not dishonor the roots of metal—groove and sheer power—aspects seemingly forgotten in the ongoing rape of the black metal tradition incited by the swinish multitude. To be sure, Pale Chalice do not reinvent the wheel with ‘Afflicting the Dichotomy of Tepid Creation,’ but they do display 28-minutes of expertly executed and well written black bile performed with more conviction than one-hundred ‘standard black metal bands’ of today. Ultimately, Pale Chalice finds themselves among Dispirit, Necrite and Palace of Worms—stranded on the fog-soaked shores of San Francisco making real black metal.” -D.L.