As I looked over the cover artwork for these Aussies, which I like, reminiscent of the great Chris Moyen (Abominant, Absu, Archgoat, Beherit, Goatlord etc) I sarcastically think to myself, “Uuuhm, I wonder what they will sound like?”

First song “Hammer of Hatred” kicks in and it’s full on Marduk, meets Angelcorpse and I love it.  A great way to get the blood flowing and introduce you to their sound. Next song starts up “Barbs of Sadism”, a slightly more subdued affair, not full on blast, then a section of keyboards comes in but not all over the place. It’s then track #3 starts “Tears of Misery”, “wait is this Dimmu Borgir?” with slower pace and keyboards much more prominent, it definitely comes across as such. “Temple of Malevolence” is Angelcorpse meets Carpathian Forest, especially with vocalist Deceiver sounding very much like Nattefrost. Hailing from Australia you can hear some definite Destroyer 666 influences and it contributes to their black ‘n’ roll sound.

What we have here folks is a bit of a identity crisis I think. As you will listen to the album as a whole you will get a range of sounds from song to song and it’s not bad by any means, because its very well played, again vocalist Deceiver spits anger and vitriol with each song and is a great part of the sound, it’s just that sound is all over the place and I don’t think the band has (found) its signature. It’s great that the production is well done and keeps a everything together and contributes to the atmosphere.

Again, not a bad release and for myself, I really enjoyed the faster numbers and I think the albums bookend tracks “Hammer of Hatred” and “Ave Satani” are great representations of what the band sounds like. I would hope the band brings the varied influences together, as whole it could work to establish the band even further.

[Visit the band's website]

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