Normally the words "Yank" (or American to a few of you...:P) and "Black-Metal" just don't seem to mix with me; plus this band is made up mostly of ex-Masochist members, a band I never liked. But after hearing quite a few decent American bands over the course of the last few years, rave reviews about this disc and the simple fact that the CD was offered to me at a dirt cheap price...I decided to give it the go. Luckily, these guys have produced a tight, well-instrumented black metal album. Nothing original really, but the band know how to play their instruments, and because of that create some music that actually will hold your interest for a few minutes (unlike a great deal of bands out there). Some songs, like the title track, and "Eve of Anti-Creation" are actually excellent for the most part, and merit multiple listens. Musically, the band are super fast (really good drumming)...not purely black metal fast that is, more a grindcore-ish speed to the sound of the whole music. But the music here is of course black metal (they've made that very clear through the lovely pics of them in corpse-paint and blowing fire), but as with the general drumming/sound the riffs/music are very death metal/grinding sounding. Quite cool actually, and mixed with the well-done vocals (joy! un-originally rasped, but pushed very hard and thus very good) and occasional usage of keyboard related atmosphere...well it's quite the fun disc to tell you the truth. I would recommend this CD....not because it's an original or ground breaking CD (it's not) but because it's actually fun (!!!) to listen to, well-played, and to tell you the truth give's American black metal a new pinnacle to reach (thus putting an end to 15-year old generic yank tard bands). Well done to finish this off. Oh, and the Mayhem (yes, "Deathcrush" what else..) "secret" cover is quite good also.

© 1997 brand