POWER FROM HELL – Lust and Violence Reissue review

POWER FROM HELL – Lust and Violence Reissue

Dying Victims Productions




For those of you who are not aficionados in South American metal here we have an act that's been around for quite some time and is still going strong today. POWER FROM HELL is scheduled to have a new album out later this year on High Roller Records. Nowadays POWER FROM HELL, who hail from Brazil, are an actual four piece band. But early on it was more like a one man project created in 2001 by guitarist,bassist and vocalist Sodomic (aka: Aron Romero) with help from a friend or two on drums or as a second guitarist.


From 2002 to 2011, Sodomic via POWER FROM HELL released four LPs and this one here is a reissue of the last one he did prior to committing himself to smaller format releases. He finally got back into the LP swing of things in 2015 with the Devil's Whorehouse full length which came out on Hells Headbangers Records. That's where my introduction to this band starts. Add to that I've become a fan.


On here the basic theme is old school black metal, ala the first wave influence. Think BATHORY, VENOM and SODOM with MOTORHEAD for inspiration but in the long run it's speed metal burnished in black with a dull sheen. The production values are from the 80's which a trademark of South American extreme metal. If you remember DARKTHRONE during their FOAD period then this is the sound they were shooting for but couldn't get because they had more money to record properly and cleanly.


In the end yes it's cool stuff but it has it's drawbacks. First off there's too many songs. After listening to the fourteen cuts you'll notice a repetitive nature within the riffs. The drum work is very boring. Add to that the vocals are muffled way too much. Then again you might like that if you read the lyrics which for the most part deal with Sodomic's obsession with S&M and B&D. Still it's like a car crash, you've gotta look. Also it's like a steady hornet's nest hum which can be comforting and there's a few solos that swing in which give it old school style.


https://www.dying-victims.de/

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/power-from-hell-lust-and-violence

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialPowerFromHell/