Musically, Von are sort of an unheralded main influence on much of what we know as black metal today with their primitive song structures, streamlined, hypnotic riffing, extreme esoteric occult imagery/obsession, and vomitously disgusting vocals. Ildjarn, "Oath of Black Blood"-era Beherit, old Burzum... NOTHING, compared to the ugliness that was VON. After several rounds of bootlegging, NWN! Productions took it upon themselves to do things right. This latest release from compiles both of Von's demos, the legendary "Satanic Blood" demo and the almost-unknown "Blood Angel" demo, along with a live show from San Francisco in 1991. Sound quality is a good reproduction of old, raw demos, and the live show is a good almost crowd-free soundboard mix. ALL lo-fi black metal freaks should track this down any way they can.

RELEASE NOTES: NWN! is a vinyl-only label, but does take care to release official CD releases as well to combat bootlegging. 1000 copies of each exist - the CD is about 74 minutes and contains just some scant liner notes, basically giving the recording info and stating that the CD is audio only. The LP version is a double-LP, gatefold, with extra goodies like lots of pictures, an interview with one of the band members, full liner notes, etc. Choose accordingly...

© 2003 lord vic