Gods of Negativity

'Gods of Negativity' by Hellfucked is solid first full length for the band, but suffers from some seriously rough edges.

This album plays like a double-edged sword, for every great thing about this disc, there's some type of a drawback. The production is rock solid for a black metal release, with all the instruments shining through nicely; however, there isn't much substance to the individual penmanship of each instrument. There are moments, such as the implied harmony in the beginning of 'Imagine' and the thrash-like grooves in 'Razordemon', that'll satisfy riff junkies across the board, but aside from that the formula doesn't change a whole lot, there's only so much you can beat out of the same tremelo-picked midtempo riff and equally mundane drumming.

The vocals are what really shook me. Right out of the gate, with 'Imagine', there’s a battery of completely uncontained, raw screaming. This isn't 'traditional' black metal 'screaming', these are sheer screams of agony, the type of sound that'll kill your neighbor’s lawn. It works perfectly and fits just as well; however, it gets taken way out of hand! Tracks such as 'Hellfucked' and 'Mord und Totschlag' are perfect example of what I mean, where the vocals take a sharp turn from serious to completely comical. In a world of Nazguls and Burzums, this stands near the top of the mountain in terms of theatrical cheesiness, and that friends, that takes effort. On the brighter side of things, the track 'Hellfucked' is the first example I’ve come across that actually uses a 'La, La, La' vocal piece midway through the song...interesting...but not a good way...

All together, this album feels rushed. 'Gods of Negativity' contains eleven tracks clocking in at just over half an hour in length, and some of these tracks come to odd and absurd ends, as if they weren't thought out all of the way. This gives the feel of every idea being thrown in, without basic consideration of what should stay and what should be set aside for a rainy day. All the filler here could have been trimmed away to create an immensely powerful EP.

As a whole, this is a pretty good album, it has many a moment of pure genocidal black metal mayhem showcased wisely by 'Bitchkill', 'Imagine', 'Razordemon' and a decent cover of Beherit's 'Gate of Nanna'. It does contain quite a bit of filler material, and sometimes feels random and directionless, but with this being Hellfucked's first full length, those are pretty forgivable sins.