Czechoslovakia has one of the most solid scenes in the world and the black metal it produces is almost always excellent, so it was with pretty high expectations that I picked up Inferno's full length. I had heard this band before on the split with Moonblood and their thrashing old school style of black metal with fuzzy production was rather rocking and impressive (despite the general opinion that Moonblood blew them away with their side), not to mention I tend to just love anything Czech anyway, and thus I threw this on with rather eager anticipation. After a preliminary keyboard piece that sounded like something classically Polish, I was greeted with some very powerful vocals in the vein of (but not quite as over-the-top as) Maniac Butcher, with strong guitars in the background and some solid drumming. When the track had finished, I was on the verge of convincing myself that I was going to love this album, and was met once again by another strong song with the same formula. The next track was more of the same. By the time the fourth song rolled around, it had gotten to me.

This is good, but it reminds me of Avenger in a way, being that it just isn't quite "there" yet. Duch Slovanske Sily stays grim throughout and the attack was preliminarily devastating, but somewhere in the middle the inspiration subsided and I was just left hearing some rather good black metal. For some reason Destroyer 666 often has a similar affect on me; I can't say this was disappointing and it might fill some of that gap for those mourning Maniac Butcher, but more so that I'm looking very forward to hearing what this band does with their next release. Some bands hit the opus with their debut and some reach it through experience.

As of now, the real next Czech legend to look out for are Stiny Plamenu.

© 2001 hando