Bonus time – two bands, one review! Sweden’s Hellgoat and Oppressive Descent from the USA have joined forces to inflict seven songs of utter black depravity upon the masses. Both are one-man black metal artists with Oppressive Descent providing three new songs and Hellgoat the remaining four.
So, Portland’s Oppressive Descent… “Winds of Pestilence Carry My Name” wastes no time in throwing a wall of (ironically) white noise in your face, prior to the thumping drums and harsh vocals joining the party. As always with these one-person productions, it’s amazing that so much noise can emanate from a single individual. Listening closely throughout, there are some nice hidden melodies behind the raucous cacophony. It’s not exactly something you can whistle along to, but it adds depth to the standard black metal barrage. Overall, a great opener.
“Crumbling Remnants of the Mausoleum Walls” is a slower song, but carries the same style over. Abrasive and discomforting, it heads more for the evil and haunting feel than its predecessor including the wailing guitar solo. “Heralding the Grandeur of Timeless Despair” cranks the speed up again… and then again throughout its 7-minute run. Once more, the melodic overtones really set this aside especially in the second half with the funereal chords being used.
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Once “När Maskarna Krälar På Din Kropp” gets past the intro, it’s very apparent that HellGoat takes more of a trashy lo-fi approach, more treble, more crash on the cymbals. The bass toms and kick drum really sound meaty when they thump through this mix, but the rougher production gives a far harsher sound than we got from Oppressive Descent. I’m not going to say which is better, but it does slice a nice bloody line through this collection and make it obvious which songs are by which artist.
“Hora II” is a breakneck trip through Hell, and comparatively short at just over three minutes. It almost acts as an intro to “Upprest Från Avgrunden”, the way the former ends and the latter begins. Don’t even ask me what the song is about as the vocals are harsher than Lee Hurst’s recent joke about Greta Thunberg. And also in Swedish (probably). However, that’s not why people listen to black metal. What’s important is that they sound really, really evil.
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This malevolence continues through “Call to Arms (Total Förödelse)” which, despite the frenetic guitars, is actually more of a slow head-nodder than blazingly fast. Actually, it’s both. Focus on the backing riff and it’s quite relaxed. Focus on the drums and it blasts by like a locomotive covered in razors.
Corrupted Flesh Records will be releasing this evil little collection as a limited run of 250 black vinyl copies via Big Cartel (includes streaming link via Bandcamp).
Death Knell of a Dying World is out on April 2nd.
