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Blood Cult > Metal from Hell > Reviews
Blood Cult - Metal from Hell

Fun, if more than a little crude - 67%

Noktorn, April 27th, 2009

A number of people seem to be hung up on this demo for some reason as being particularly bad; which is curious to me as the whole Dipsomaniac set has released music an order of magnitude more offensive to my sensibilities than THIS of all things. Hell, this is a surprisingly capable, moderately original underground black metal demo; certainly less terrible than a large number of releases I own, though nothing to write home about. Granted, Blood Cult's oft-noted southern influence isn't substantially present anywhere on this disc save for a handful of bluesy solos or clean guitar passages, but what remains is some pretty good trad-influenced black metal that I can listen to pretty regularly.

Like most of the projects Rev is involved in, this has a rather substantial influence from rock music and traditional heavy metal, though it's not quite as pronounced as you might here on your average Tjolgtjar LP. The riffs are rather neatly split between black metal tremolo generally similar to early Darkthrone or Gorgoroth and strummed chords that make me think of Bathory gone a bit more rock and roll. The transitions between the styles are very choppy, and oftentimes the band will simply drop a riff or musical idea in favor of another with no particular transition between them even in the form of a fill; there's just a sudden stop and start into a new idea with only a tenuous connection to the previous one. What makes this less loathsome than when other bands do it is the relative punchiness of the music; the tracks are short and composed of simple-enough ideas that the transitions don't end up being TOO gruesome, even if they're not the most professional way to go about things. The riffs themselves are surprisingly solid; the Darkthrone derived material, though relatively unoriginal, is successful in establish a haunting atmosphere and the more midpaced numbers are rocking and catchy.

The drums are rather clattery, though capably played, and the vocals are the dry, nasal scratch that those familiar with Rev's work will know by heart by now, and the production is rehearsal room and thin, but actually managing to provide a bit of misty atmosphere despite its cheapness. This music is carried by both the riffs and the variation of the compositions. Cheesy and unadvised as certain elements might be, such as the harmonized vocals at the beginning of 'Mistress Of Sin' or the bit of 'Halloween' theme at the end of 'Hell Walker', these elements go a long way towards making the band appear more unique than its contemporaries. Techniques such as these might seem cheap, but Blood Cult approaches them with a certain earnestness and a skill at incorporating them into the main body of the music which makes them come off as more genuine and less desperate.

It's hardly perfect; it's rather amateurish in delivery and lacks finesse, but it's fun music and delivered with enough intensity that it can get over most of its issues. Most of all, though, it's spirited, and I get the impression that the musicians involved actually enjoy what they do. This is far from great music, and it's certainly nothing I would recommend to those who aren't fans of underground black metal, but I don't see anything obscenely wrong with it in the end.

Fuck this shit - 0%

PatientZero, June 28th, 2008

This ridiculously prolific band from the Deep South of America, self proclaimed “Black Metal rednecks” supposedly incorporate country/southern rock elements into their music – however such influences are not evident in this demo. If you’re looking for something original, then look somewhere else as this demo doesn’t offer it. Throughout the demo, the vocals alternate between a high-pitched rasp and a poor attempt at guttural vocals. It sounds at times like the vocalist is trying to emulate Paul Ledney (of Havohej/Profanatica fame) but he does poorly. At other times, the vocals are a whisper, but what ever style this guy tries to scream in, it sounds like he has his fingers down his throat the whole time. There are some moments where the band makes an attempt at originality but these attempts are still poor. Hung up to die features a short solo that would be typical of the classic rock genre but not only is it poorly played it doesn’t fit into the music at all and sounds like shit. The song Among Us, Underneath tries to sound like Transylvanian Hunger but this doesn’t work with the production, and soon the guitar subsides to a clean ‘riff’, clearly not a tune that should feature in a song claiming to be metal, and soon the distortion comes back on and the song again completely changes direction, this time slowed down. The slowing down of this part seems to mask another appalling riff that is like all other guitar parts on the album, obscured by the vocals. The song changes direction again, and its at this point that I turn it off and try and forget that I ever heard this shit. But before I can, Mistress Of Sin starts with some bullshit harmonising voices, something that a band like Iced Earth would do, but at least their vocals don’t sound like the guy has down syndrome. Finally I turn it off. This is an appalling demo. They should stop trying to incorporate whatever the fuck they’re trying to incorporate into their music – in fact, they should stop making music full stop. These guys need to trade their instruments for shotguns and blow their fuckin’ brains out. STAY AWAY!