Countess Erzsebet – Countess Erzsebet

25/09/2023

The bloody history of the Hungarian noblewoman Erszebet or Elisabeth Bathory has inspired countless artists – be it in literature, movies or music. Where you have obviously the Swedish legendary band Bathory itself of course, next to Cradle of Filth’s classic concept album ‘Cruelty and the Beast’ to name but two of the most immediately recognizable ones. It is also the chosen moniker of a one woman project headed by one Rachel Bloodspell Moongoddess, although I doubt that’s actually what’s printed on her driver’s licence.

Countess Erzsebet had already released her digital debut under the shorter Erzsebet with ‘Black spell’ in 2017. So with a slightly renamed nom de plume, she now offers a new self-titled mini-album consisting of 6 tracks. Rachel is not a complete newcomer, actually. You might have actually seen her playing live with USBM legend Xasthur, playing acoustic bass with him on his recent more dark folk tinged tours as well as being featured on the ‘Aestas Pretium MMXVIII’ EP from 2018.

Not unlike Scott Conner’s own vision, Rachel keeps her musical output deliberately lo-fi, which does not mean that it all ends up as an incomprehensible mess though. The base of the songs are built off from a thick fog of Burzumesque bass and guitar over which she lays creepy organ sounds, some acoustic guitars and her own haunting vocals. These are not so much the usual black metal screams, but rather occult invocations reminiscent of Coven’s Jinx Dawson. This brings a pretty interesting combination of depressive black metal and occult rock shrouded in a mist of obscure recording.

Fans of for instance Wolvennest should definitely check this out. With the quality and originality on display here, it is only a matter of time before she gets snatched up by a label for a proper full-length release.