A solo project from Hideous Divinity guitarist Enrico Schettino, Patristic is something of a concept band, focused on the early Christian church fathers who helped shape the religion from something freshly born to the dominant spiritual force that it is today. And it's an interesting concept even for fellow heretical folk, Catechesis being divided in two pieces named A Vinculis Soluta and Catechesis then subdivided further to create lengthy, seamless batterings that exercise both neck and brain. No doubt fervent Catholics will be able to explain these themes further yet even if you're uneducated in early Christian history Catechesis does its job well enough to enthral.

Starting with a melodic opening before bursting into Behemothic torrential poundings, A Vinculis Soluta I soon develops into something more interesting than the Poles thanks to a progressive sense that gives the band's overwhelming riffing a kinship to the likes of Ulcerate as much as anything. It at once seems fresher and more akin to 90s extreme metal than Behemoth have in a while (allowing for the surprisingly decent quality of The Shit ov God) and despite the generally lengthy song times that push over six and seven minutes and even without touches like the ambient-drenched interludes woven into the songs themselves, this is compelling stuff.

It's quickly followed by A Vinculis Soluta II which doubles down on the heaviness, moving towards a more technical death metal battery with touches of everything from prog to dissonance being carefully sewn in to make this something of an aural journey, grandiose, epic and forming something of a mini-peak and continuing to enthral with more of an atmospheric focus - fantastic stuff, all around. And the following Catechesis continues this quality level across its four sections, the first part mixing in some shimmering strings alongside the riffs to set an ominous tone like a more progressively-minded Immolation, before the brutality begins properly.

And although as expected the guitar musicianship is superb, the drumming isn't far behind. Courtesy of Argentinian sticksman Nicolàs "Sathrath" Petri (also of various others including Chronic Hate and live for Nocturnal Depression) the drums never cease to impress with a technical yet not overtly showy performance that leans towards the martial in tracks like Catechesis II - when not blasting, of course! Even when that piece is indulging in heaviness, it manages to make it sound almost avant-garde thanks to the choppiness of the riff/drum interaction.

Elsewhere, the band sound grand and epic thanks to allowing the guitars to breathe and resonate in an almost doom metal manner (Catechesis III, for example) before resuming the battering in a way that would make fans of early Mithras proud. Closer Catechesis IV also reduces the tempo in places to make something of a more intense and pulverising groove, just as effective. A great death metal debut; hopefully not a one-off but the base for future explorations of Christian history through this format!