Inferno do for Destruction what Usurper do for Celtic Frost...but, believe it or not, Inferno has even LESS originality. Some of you might recall the debut CD from this band (entitled "Utter Hell") - you remember it don't you ? That album in which EVERY song was built upon a DIRECT steal from some classic or other of the 80s (Destruction, Sodom, Venom and Slayer being the primary victims to Inferno's pick-pocketing of riffs). Now, while just about everyone I know HATED this band because of their complete lack of anything even remotly resembling originality, I enjoyed their debut (my thinking: sure, Inferno are blindly stealing their entire sound, but those riffs are STILL great, even if it's not the original band doing them). So, "has anything changed with the bands sophmore release" you ask ? Well, not really - sure, this time around Inferno actually HAVE written some riffs of their own (albeit fairly generic and uninteresting ones), so the "rip off" factor isn't quite as high this time around (although I noticed more than a handful of recycled VENOM riffs), but boil this album down to it's gritty core and you still have more of the same. Vocalist "Hazardous Pussy Desecrator" sounds even MORE like Mike Schmier this time around than before (hard to imagine), and the production/playing on this whole thing is very reminiscent of "Sentence of Death" (much as "Utter Hell" was). The only real difference between "Downtown Hades" and "Utter Hell" (to me at least) is the fact that I didn't really enjoy this one as much. The first had some novelty value ("hey guys, listen to this..you won't BELIEVE how badly this band is ripping off [insert band name here] and getting away with it!!!"), but the gimmick has worn thin, and having a cheap Destruction knock-off sound just isn't cutting it anymore...

Oh well, at least I didn't pay full price for this as I found it in a local used CD store, which also happens to be the only circumstance in which I would reccomend this album (given that you are actually one of the few who liked their debut and don't mind buying what ammounts to an inferior version of the first)...everyone else probably already knows better and will be avoiding this anyway. A letdown overall, but hey, it's not like I was expecting anything grand to begin with...

© 1999 chorazaim