This old style keyboardless black metal band from the Pacific Northwest has been around for a few years. Warlords of Hell is a successful follow up to Satan’s Wrath. While it might be a stretch to refer to them as maturing, they are definitely more accomplished musically. Where Satan’s Wrath was an interesting if not stellar album, Warlords of Hell makes the leap toward mandatory black metal.

They fall just short, but not from lack of skill. The material on display here is hardly original, but they execute well. There is nothing groundbreaking here, but I do not think that is their intention. What we get is an enjoyably aggressive ride through nostalgia for better days. Fans of Possessed, Immortal and Slayer will love it. Some may say if it’s nothing new why not just listen to the aforementioned bands instead? Those bands are no longer putting out material like this and Thy Infernal is, so buy it.

On the down side, the intentional bad production is tiresome, the vocals are weak, and I can’t help but laugh at lines like, “We impale his fucking angels and crush all with our skull fucking metal.” Blasphemous they are not. They sport a simplistic form of corpsepaint and can claim a female guitarist who actually puts on the paint. Her stage name? Slut, to go along with Impaler, Rapist and Armageddon. As I said, originality is not their forte. They try hard, but they will never challenge Marduk or Belphegor for blasphemy supremacy.

This young band shows promise for the future, and in the mean time, they should be enjoying a more than respectable present. This is an album that warrants more than just an occasional listen.

[Visit the band's website]

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