Hellstorm of Evil Vengeance

Like most black metal fans, I started out listening to Bathory, Mayhem, and Darkthrone. Black Witchery was the first extreme black metal band that I heard that I thought broke through the boundaries that were set by the first and second wave scene. I picked up this split at the local record shop. Little did I know this would be the release that defines everything I love and worship now. What we have here is 9 tracks of furious, crushing, war metal!

The first half of the split is Black Witchery. Throughout their start, they have proved to be one of the most relentless black metal bands to hail from the United States. The opening track is titled "Unholy Vengeance Of War." It's one of my personal favorite Black Witchery songs. Three minutes and fifty one seconds of relentless black metal. The listener is first crushed by a demonic scream of Impurath. His vocals are harsh and powerful, much like the overall sound of band. The lyrics are simple but manage to get the bands point across, which is pure fucking blasphemy!!!

"Death unto the skies, storming from below
Flames consume the Heavens, Holy vision of death
Desecrate souls of Feeble descent shall perish Beneath Our Arise
Storming shadowed minions of the Horned One
Shall Rape the Holy Trinity "

You can't get much better than that! The second and third track "Black Witching Metal" and "Summoning the Infernal Legions" were taken from the bands first demo Evil Shall Prevail. "Summoning the Infernal Legions" starts off with a blast beat which is quickly accompanied by one of the most fucking sinister riffs I have ever heard! The song shows a wider infleunce from the bands usually sound of Blasphemy and Beherit worship. Think of it as if Nocturno Culto played guitar in Blasphemy. Into Damnation Eternal is up next. A great song to say they least. If you have never heard Black Witchery before I suggest starting off with this song. It captures the pure essence of the band. Fast tremolo picking over heavy bass distortion, war cries, and primitive blast beats. They conclude their half of the split with a cover of Blasphemy's "Demoniac." The band always likes to through in a cover song by their key influence and master of war metal!

The second assault is by Canadian war lords Conqueror. A project by two famous figures in the war metal scene. R. Förster and James Read have both been involed in many different projects throughout Canada including Blasphemy, Revenge, and Axis of Advance. If you have heard any of those bands then you know what your in for.

The "Ross Bay Cult" intro is pure horror. The heaviness forces you to bang your head and praise the name of Satan. After the intro the song goes straight into "Hammer of the Anti-Christ." This song is pretty much a missile launched right out of hell aimed at the gates of heaven. I love how Conqueror will have a fast paced riff by itself while James Read will through something awesome and unique in the background. The best example of this is in the song "Domitor Invictus." Reads drum work on this split is amazing and somewhat technical but its hard to hear due to the production quality compared to the sound on any Axis of Advance release.

If you want an introduction into war metal then this is what you need to hear. If your hoping for variety or clean production then your far from it. Hellstorm of Evil Vengeance is a forty minute assult on the listener. A cult masterpiece by two driving forces in the underground black metal scene.

-Black Witchery-

The Black Witchery side of the disk is the best of the two halves. Being something of a strange legend in the world of black metal these blokes keep pressing on and on with with what they do, as they do... The production on their side is quite raw, though very listenable and allows for the drums, guitars and vocals to all have a fair space in the mix, which is something rare for such an underground black metal band.

The songs are the typical "guitars match blast beat" melodies that many other bands are doing but Black Witchery puts a little more movement and effort in what they do which brings this slightly above the morass of bands influenced by this style of music. The melodies are often relaxing almost, and can carry your interest for more than one listen. While the songwriting is nothing that will challenge the likes of Bathory or Darkthrone...one can see how people have come to enjoy the work of Black Witchery.

Black Witchery are the ideal concept of a band forging no new ground, but at least trying to make the old ground move with a little more inspiration than most.

-Conqueror-

It's loud, it's crude and it's violent. This is pretty typical much the "typical" black metal CD I get in the mail at least once a week these days. The blokes can play well enough but the production/songwriting do nothing to set them against a large crowd of angry, christ-hating projects that are rising from the depths each and every month. They obviously hate Christ, they obviously love modern black metal...but something is missing from their half of the split that I just can't put my finger on.

In terms of actual songwriting this could be worse, but it could also be much better. The have a ton of raging drums, angry blasting beats and swirling guitars but the quirks and oddities that make most black metal bands interesting don't arise on this work. I wish I could suggest this more openly, as black metal IS my thing...but this work just grinds, slams and curses along with little that you can take away from it afterwards...

Conqueror have the goods to make something better than this...but compared to the Black Witchery side one just seems to forget this half of the CD.

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I'd say but it if you're a big fan of Black Witchery and that style of black metal...but don't buy this thinking that you'll own anything remotely resembling a revolution. It's the same black metal, on a different day...Black Witchery just happen to do it a little better than most.