Genocide in the Name of Satan

I love a release that tells you exactly what it is with the cover art. One glance at the band logo or Lord Therramon's pretty stellar corpse-paint job tells you everything you need to know about the demo: though there are some melodic moments in most of the songs (most memorably in the middle-eight of "Die, Weak Soul"), most of the music here is by-the-books black metal, and it's "kvlt" as hell.

After an ostensibly Isengard-inspired intro, the demo proper kicks off with its title track. The song is an absolute barn-burner, its slim 2 minutes chock full of primitive but compelling riffs. The slower section at the end is especially memorable, and it leads smoothly into the slower intro of the next track - just one example of the demo's great pacing. Though there are only five tracks, each one is placed perfectly; the demo's already-short 13 minute run feels even quicker because it flows so naturally from riff to riff and song to song.

Lyrically, the tape leaves a bit to be desired - one of the most easily intelligible sections reads "I rape the nuns / I kill the priests / I force them down upon their knees". It's pretty low-brow, but that's partly forgivable; with music as raw and simplistic as this, anything too smart would've been a poor match. Still, black-metal-by-numbers lyrics like these are a shame considering how uncharacteristically understandable Therramon's phlegmy, gurgled vocals are throughout the demo. If I'm going to hear the words this clearly, I wish I could get a little more out of them.

In all, Genocide in the Name of Satan is exactly what the packaging makes it out to be - it's not exactly a diamond in the rough, but it's not really in the rough either. It's precisely the kind of tape that a black metal fan can get into without a hint of the crossover appeal that other bands might possess. I wouldn't bother hunting for it online, but if it shows up in your local record store it's well worth the few bucks they're charging.

A fantastically funereal guitar intro initiates this ritual with melancholy and dread. In fact, all guitar actions are captured perfectly for this stylistic approach and delivered with an affinity for abusiveness and brutality. However, this recording suffers from the endemic plague of NOT emphasizing the damned drums!! Why the fuck must this always be? This cassette would be a total raging nightmare if only the vocal pre-eminence was reduced in favor of more prominant coffin pounding and bone rattling... but no. Is it too much to ask to have my skull caved in with a bass drum? I suppose. In any case, this is solid debut for a project comprised of one possessed servant writhing in the fever of his Master. Let us come together in prayer that this error in production will be corrected with the upcoming cassette. "G.I.T.N.O.S." should soon be releasing on disc format.

This is a five song demo released by Satanic Propaganda Records, and overall this is a pretty run of the mill black metal recording, but this does have its highlights. The layout is about as basic as could be, but written on the inlay is "Pure Fucking Evil, Fuck Off", so it does have a certain likeable quality (IMO), and puts forth a respectable ideal (even if that again has been done before).

Fading in with some harmonized notes I guess typical wouldnt be very fitting untill all the instruments come in and the brutality begins. Blasting away with a sound that reminds me alot of the album Reign Of The Malicious (Nachtmystium) musically in some part (especially the first song), but the vocals sound very European, as would be expected from this Swedish one man act. The music does diverse in tempo, and riff style, but none to drastic, and blasts onward from track to track with enough repetition to get the mood across, but with out boring you to death, or sleep(or atleast me).

The drums sound very clear, but have an odd wooden, dead sound, that is interesting, but some may be annoyed with (but not me for some reason). The drumming is done well, on time, and fits its parts, which can be a problem some times with one man bands (and its another plus to have real drums, and not some fucking machine).

The guitar work on here is interesting, and the riffing nice and clear (except the first song I thought was a little harder to hear in the begining). Meshing a slightly thrash influenced straight blackend Metal sound I enjoy the guitar parts alot. Also the tempo change ups, and riff changes were done well, and just flat out good riffing. You can tell that Therramon is in the least a good guitarist, and he sure as fuck can write some wicked hymns. The guitar work alone on here easily singles this band above a good league of clone BM bands that flood the market. Entertaining if you are in the mood for some grim, death to weakness, fucking Satan worshiping unholy Black Metal.

The song titles are some what typical for todays scene, but could not be more fitting for the music. Titles like Allegiance To Satan, and Die, Weak Soul, are killer, and kick ass tunes none the less. I wasnt so impressed with the band name, but its cool, and pretty orignal (just try and find all the bands with dark, night, eternal, or infernal in their name).

So if you wanna hear a some what ordinary underground Black Metal demo I would recomend this band, for what thats worth anyway.