Think Blasphemy and Conqueror if you are not familiar with Black Witchery, if you are familiar with them think Conqueror. This time out the sound is more streamlined and more monotonous. Think 26 minutes of absolutely mindless savagery done with drums and guitar. Forget songwriting or any pretense at musicianship. This is bash till you drop satanic war metal. Fast no frills raw metal that has either 9 short tracks or 1 long track with some brief pauses depending on you outlook. Biblical Satanism unleashed upon the terrified flock. I think this band is interchangeable with the above mentioned bands except they are not as polished as Blasphemy. They are however a great example of this style, doing most everything right. One thing that stands them above the pack of Christ worshiping pretenders that only play at Satanism but still make it to Sunday school is that they are not pretending, or so they say. If sitting in a church parking lot with the cd player at full volume waiting for church goers to exit the building appeals to you Upheaval Of Satanic Might is your ammo. Make it ugly and they will scream, burn an inverted cross on their lawn and they will hide.

In terms of music what does this fast and dirty bash and bellow metal album have to offer? The priority here is never disappoint the faithful, stick to the formula with just subtle variations allowed, in this case eliminating the thrash elements. The mix is muddy, of course, the drums are dominant and monotonous and the guitars are very repetitive. The best part is the bass guitar, strain to hear it. “Blood Oath” starts off with one of the elder gods rising from the pit, bellowing and groaning, then after a bit the rejoicing begins, screams and bellows, pounding drums freight train style buzzing guitars. This is subtle music, the closer you listen the more you pick out. “Heretic Death Call” is more blasting intensity with minimal structure. “Profane Savagery” is a very short song with loud deep bellows and drumming that is a bit more precise. “Baphomet Throne Exaltation” starts with death growls over ominous background noise then full scale frontal assault on your mother’s sensibilities. By this point you have all you are going to get on this disk. From here on out enjoy the ride. “Darkness Attack” has a cool bass line that the slowed freight train allows us to hear but it is back to overdrive for “Scorned and Crucified” After a brief pause the title track closes out the album at full attack. A bonus Blasphemy track is tacked on the end but is of little consequence. We already know they are Blasphemy fans now we know they can’t pull off a cover song.

This is devil music for worshipers. If this was meant for a recruiting drive the music would be beautiful and enticing to lure in the unsuspecting and convert them with the message. This is shear exuberance from believers for believers exalting in the presence of their master. Would you listen to this if there was nobody around to offend their sensibilities? Probably not, but I would and there you have it, two horns up.

[Visit the band's website]

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