The Gods of the Pit pt. II (Paragon So Below)

Well first of all, this is some badass old school death metal from Finland. Brutal riffs and the brutal drumming that fit the music perfectly, and add some badass blackened death metal vocals and you have what Belial achieves in the album. This cd is great and all, but the main setback was the incredibly short play time.. Right when your getting in the mood and starting to bang your head, the cd ends in a mere 13 minutes, but other than that, this album fucking slays. The first song "The Invocation", probably the best in the whole cd, starts with a brutal riff and some brutal drumming, then goes on faster then goes back to the regular tempo, then finally ending with a brutal solo. Next is "Voices Beyond", another brutal song with some badass riffs and brutal drum beats. As well as the first song, this song also has a short, yet badass solo towards the end. The next song "Deceased" is just pretty much the same as the two previous tracks, mainly consisting of a some brutal ass riffs and brutal drumming. Then next is "For Them", one of the faster songs of the cd. Starting with some brutal blast beats and some savage riffs which later leads to a another short, yet brutal solo. Then when your already headbanging and expecting some more brutality the last song, "Piece by piece" comes out, pretty much being like 10 seconds of blast beats, a riff, and the vocalist screaming then finally the song finshes and your like "what the fuck was that" then the album just comes to an end. This is a pretty solid release from this black/death metal band, but the really shitty thing about it is the fucking incredibly short play time.

Since the initial pressing of Belial's "Gods of the Pit" demo sold out it's entire 500 copies, Seattle's Morbund Records decided to reissue it on CD in 1993, and titled it "Gods of the Pit Part 2 - Paragon So Below." Only 2 tracks from the original demo, "The Invocation" and "Voices Beyond," remained on the reissue, while "Dead Zone" and "For the Beasts," from the original demo, were replaced by "Deceased," "For Them," and "Piece By Piece (Remix)." This is brutal, in your face Death Metal, stripped down and raw, which was the staple of the Finnish scene (i.e. Sentenced, Convulse, Mythos, Impaled Nazarene, Mordicus etc.) in the early 90's. While the music is straight forward, "chugga chugga" style riffing, Belial breaks out the ocassional (albeit too short) guitar solo on songs like "The Invocation." The only real complaint I have with this release is that, just as it gets going and has you hooked, it's over. One listen though will show you why this demo was so popular in the underground upon it's release, and how brutal Belial once was.

Although their other albums are almost impossible to find, this CD is still available from both Moribund Records, as well as several other distros, so pick this up and prepare to be blown away.