HELLFUCK - 9 Nails Hammered into the Flesh of God review

 

HELLFUCK - 9 Nails Hammered into the Flesh of God 

Godz ov War Productions

The genre tagline on this is Speed Metal / Thrash and they're from Poland. Before I go into that let's explore the line-up. HELLFUCK is a four piece act who started out in 2021. The band is made up of veteran Metal musicians from a few known Polish Extreme Metal acts and some not so. For me a long time fan of Polish Extreme Metal this is like a super group. 

You've got Skullripper (aka: Marcin Sienkiel) on guitar and vocals. He's in one of the greatest Polish Death Metal bands of all time, AZARATH. Next you got guitarist Nelek (aka: Daniel Wojtowicz) who was in the Death Metal band BANISHER. On bass there's Armagog (aka: Michal Samol) who's been in a ton of bands but also was the live bass player for AZARATH. Finally there's Inferno (aka: Zbigniew Robert Promiński) on drums who is also in AZARATH and BEHEMOTH. 

So yeah I said "super group" and yeah in all honesty those type of bands are 50/50 when producing something within their supposed potential. I'll say HELLFUCK is on the high side of supposed greatness. This is the second full length by HELLFUCK. Their debut, Diabolic Slaughter, came out in 2022 and also on Godz ov War Productions. Screw me for missing out on that one. 

As far as 9 Nails Hammered into the Flesh of God goes yeah it's part Speed Metal but there's definitely some early SLAYER influence going on here. Skullripper is doing his best to come across as Tom Araya at times. But his riffs are killer as fuck. I like Nelek's solos a lot and of course you've got a rhythm section from hell.

All in all this is a great Thrash album, obviously better than the big names putting out stuff this year. But this is obviously a side project for the band members of AZARATH to explore more fun and extreme insanity. The last AZARATH album, Saint Desecration, came out in 2020. A year later HELLFUCK started. In my not so humble opinion AZARATH's Blasphemers Maledictions from 2011 is one of the greatest Death Metal albums of all time. If you don't believe me then go listen to it or go fuck yourself. Hey Polish Power rules again!

http://godzovwar.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/9-nails-hammered-into-the-flesh-of-god

HELL-BORN - Natas Liah review

HELL-BORN - Natas Liah

Odium Records

If you were a BEHEMOTH fan back in the 1990's then you might remember that two of their members went off and started a new band HELL-BORN. In the first decade of the 2000's this Polish act was fairly prolific as far as releasing music. From 2001 to 2008 they put out five full lengths. If you ask me I'd say yeah that's pretty damm good as far as producing new music goes.

Now of those five releases I only have one, Legacy of the Nephilim, from 2003. And in all honesty I didn't get it until a few years after it was released. Worse yet I bought it used but hey it's a damm good album. So how do you like me now? But anyways a few years after I finally got into HELL-BORN's music the band went silent. So when I learned that they were coming out with a new album after over a decade since their last album, Darkness from 2008. I was kinda excited. 

You know when most bands return after utter silence after a decade chances are it's not gonna be so good unless you like lying to yourself which I don't. Sure there are exceptions and this new one from HELL-BORN is one of em. Natas Liah is an examination on how to do old school blackened death metal. This one sounds far better than the one I have which came out 17 fuckin years ago. 

What we have here is gruesome and brutal sounding as only the Poles know how to do it blackened fuckin death metal. The vocals come across as sung by a upright and uptight corpse. There's tremolo picked melodies as well as, wait for it, crisp solos. The drum work is held back to more thunderous than pounding. And the overall song structures have these amazing strokes of melody which is shocking. 

The spotlight, according to the PR info, is that NERGAL from BEHEMOTH returns to help out his old friends on a song. That would be the final cut on the album "Blakk Metal". Personally that's not much of a selling point since this whole album is great in every way by this awesome three piece. Natas Liah invites you in, entertains you in a devious way and frankly never lets you go. Perfection in blackened death has been made by these Polish veterans of extreme metal.

http://www.odiumrex.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://odiumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hell-born-natas-liah

 

AZARATH – In Extremis review

AZARATH – In Extremis 

Agonia Records




When Inferno (aka: Zbigniew Robert Promiński) is not pounding out the skins during his day job as the drummer for BEHEMOTH he takes time off to pursue his hobby with AZARATH. Bias alert, I am a huge fan of AZARATH. Seriously I like both bands he performs with but I like this one better and have since their inception back in 2001 when I heard their debut Demon Seed. I think their 2009 release, Praise the Beast, is one of the best modern death metal releases ever. The follow up to that, 2011's Blasphemers' Maledictions, was just as good and now six years since we finally have a new one.


AZARATH to their credit have a potent death metal formula, punishing Polish brutality. On their last one they added more of a blackened feel. This time around there is some atmosphere squeezed into the overwhelming assault. To start with, Inferno is a militaristic drumming phenomenon. He should be registered as a lethal weapon when he carries drum sticks. Add to that guitarists Bart (aka: Bartłomiej Szudek) and Necrosodom (aka: Marek Lechowski) who also adds his vicious vocal quality to the mayhem. Then there's bassist Piotr Ostrowski who some how holds this explosive experience together.

In Extremis is Latin for "at the point of death" or better yet "under extreme circumstances". Ah yeah since this dink starts out like a berzerker. This release just pushes the level of straight up death metal which Polish bands, who I freak out to, like VADER do so well. Right now this is one of the most intense releases of the year. Period!

http://agoniarecords.com

https://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AzarathBand