Combining the violence of the Canadian warlords Blasphemy with the moody self-abuse ritualistics of misanthropic European black metal, it could be expected from Arkhon Infaustus to be the true icons of modern darkness. Does this 7" kick enough ass to be an inspiration for a new generation of sadistic music? No, it is not as great as something like Mayhem used to be, but I recommend this whole-heartedly to the black metal audience worldwide. The ultra-speed of grindcore has been a part of black metal as long as there has been a definition for black metal, but it has never stopped from raising discussion and the old war of true Norwegian black metal vs. the death metal crowd with jogging pants. To set this straight, Arkhon Infaustus comes across as pretty happy in their blasphemies, not unlike the spiked mania of Possessed-Onslaught era of satanic thrashers. I've got mixed feelings about this. The scene is being totally hypocritical when the values of pure evil are held to be the dogma against which every new band reflects but all that is instantly forgotten when we get back the sympathetic drunken, long-haired rebels from two decades ago. I am not saying that Arkhon Infaustus has anything to do with retro but it does have as much to do with grindcore as it has with black metal and this should make most people recheck their attitudes towards life.

© 2002 black hate