Incriminated / Bloodhammer

So what we got here is a LP full of filthy, old-school black/death metal from Finland. Incriminated starts with quite fast, thrashy track, followed up by a slower one, Christ. The riffs are simple all through the side and Harald Mentor growls like a madman. The sound is quite thin and guitar-oriented while drums beat on the background and bass just follows – but hell, what were you waiting for? Song writing is solid through the Incriminated side of this album, the opening track, Suicidal Aggression / Nuclear Winds, and the last one, the Cult of the Weak, being the best ones.

Bloodhammer side of the split begins strongly with the opening riff of Hellmachine. Drums sound is hollow here and guitar sound in general is heavier but also more distorted than on the flipside. However, Bloodhammer doesn´t quite get into the same level of filth than Incriminated, besides their song writing is a bit inferior. This is not to say this side of the album would be bad at all, as the Incriminated side was, honestly, really great. The vocals are blurry on the both sides, but somehow I prefer Harald Mentor´s deep growling to Bloodhammer´s more typical black metal output.

There is definitely nothing new on this LP, nor is it a classic of its genre. Nevertheless, there´s quite damn good old-school death/black metal on this one, especially on the Incriminated side.

This split deserves far more than just 2 points. What in the world was the first reviewer of this split possibly thinking when he wrote his review of this satisfactory split between two satisfactory bands?! First I will write about the Incriminated portion of this split, then the final portion of Bloodhammer.

INCRIMINATED PORTION: The vocals are the most noticable thing on their portion. The vocals used here are not those evil snarls, nor those pseudo Burzum screams and shrieks, instead we have a rather odd, spat out form of vocals being used, really hard to place your finger on or say exactly how these vocals sound, bottomline is, these are original vocals and they are damn good and interesting, cant understand a word the man is saying, and thats a good thing right? YES. The tracks are very short in length, so dont expect anything epic. Instead expect something more on the lines of songs that build up, bounce around, then end. Nothing wrong with that at all, because the music itself leans more towards thrash/old school black metal. No synth involved whatsoever. Incriminated gives a driving drumbeat, sick vocals, an occasional lead guitar, and some really demented moments. The best Incriminated track on this split would most likely have to be either, "Suicidal Aggression, Nuclear Winds", or the other track, "The Cult of the Weak". Both great tracks with some bouncy beats and sick vocals.

BLOODHAMMER PORTION: Bloodhammer is the less interesting band of the split, Incriminated obviously deserves more credit than Bloodhammer. Bloodhammer however provides more atmosphere, first track for example, instead of breaking off into black metal, it starts off with a weird metallic noise with synth building up, then electric guitars roar, a yell is heard, and things just fucking take off. Only problem, Bloodhammer has their guitars a little bit too loud. This causes the drums and the vocals to be less heard, but still they can be heard. I wont talk about the rest of the Bloodhammer material, just expect loud guitars, regular standard black metal vocals, and some rather bland drumming. Best tracks are definitely, "Ancient Kings", and also, "Death".

Here you will find two of the most infamous bands from Finland, Incriminated who plays ultra-simplistic Thrash/Death/Black in the vein of Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and Bloodhammer with their brand of Thrashing Raw Black Metal. The first five songs are the Incriminated one's, that are in the same style thay always played, very good and full of headbanging heavy riffs, unusual vocals and great bass lines, best songs are: Suicidal Aggression/Nuclear Winds, The Mentor and Death. The Bloodhammer side have rawer (lo-fi) sound, but the music is great as always, also Celtic Frost influenced but not in the same way as Incriminated, this is pure raw black metal, best songs are: Hellmachine, Grand Desecration, Ancient Kings and Death (this "Death" is not the same on the Incriminated side, they just have the same name). This is a great release, so if you like this kind of music and haven't heard this bands, this is a great start.