The question of whether you really need to check out Boia, and their debut EP, Chivalry of Death, is simply this: “How much do you bleed for Altars of Madness?” Now don’t get me wrong, any self-respecting metalhead has at least one copy of the seminal debut from Morbid Angel in their collection, but that doesn’t relate to said worship. And truthfully, there are clearly shades of Hellhammer/Celtic Frost to be found as well, during Chivalry of Death‘s five fatal blows. Though none of the EP’s tracks can really stand toe-to-toe with the two aformentioned greats, but how many bands truly can?

Having said that, one could definitely, do a lot worse, as Chivalry of Death isn’t just some mindless drivel. These tracks are well constructed and really encapsulate that “take no shit” old school extreme metal feeling. At a mere twleve minutes, I really wish there was some more meat on the bone, so to speak. My personal, ideal running time for an EP is twenty minutes, give or take. With one of Chivalry of Death‘s track being a thirty-four second intro, you really wind up with a little bit of a thin release. Though it is great for repeated listenings.

All in all, Boia isn’t here to break new ground, and Chivalry of Death doesn’t. Yet it does manage to kick a little bit of ass. Maybe not as much as their influences, but just enough for me to check out any future output from the band. And like the age old adage says, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

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