Monday, 21 July 2008

Review - Infernal Execrator - Antichrist Execration

Infernal Execrator - Antichrist Execration

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3 out of 10

Who has the easiest job in a Black Metal band? It must be the bass player - they can play as much or as little as they wish, as they're never heard above the thunderous rushing of their bandmates. Ironic, since the band they all really want to be is Slayer, who have known for years the dark magic of speed, power and depth. Were he to listen to Antichrist Execration, and in particular the title track with its amateurish South of Heaven and Angel of Death mashup, Kerry King would doubtless laugh, before biting the wings off another fly-by-night liberal and feeding them to his pet trepanned journalist.

Which is not to say the album's bad - it ticks all the Black Metal boxes; neck-snap speed riffing, drums like multiple nailguns, lashings of lyrics about death, the devil and doing things with spiky weapons delivered by a twisted troll gargling radioactive shit. It's all here, folks. Massacre of the Evangelists and Pure Genocidal Apocalypse start with a bit of wind and a jump, before roaring off - the latter into a none-more-black, none-more-fast take on Iron Maiden's Phantom of the Opera. The troll morphs into a tortured frog having its innards forced out of its throat, while the guitars of Lord Ashir at least make an attempt to break up the headlong fizzy thudding with some all-too-brief slower sections. These aren't allowed to show any muscle, unfortunately, before being whipped away in another drum stampede from Mr. Hellgrinder.

It's the final track that provides salvation, and not just because it's a cover version (Originally done by labelmatesImpiety) or has the best title ever. No, Sodomythical Frostgoats, despite sounding again like a Slayer tribute on speed, possesses some nice low-harmony gurgling from Ashir and a genuinely interesting psychedelic ending - mix more of that in with the standard black hurricane and we could be onto something.

Listen: www.geocities.com/infernalexecrator

Tracklist:
1. Massacre of the Evangelists
2. Antichrist Execration
3. Armageddon Bestial Battle
4. Final Blasphemy
5. Pure Genocidal Apocalypse
6. Sodomythical Frostgoats

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