hell bent

hell bent

Apocalyptic Lamentations

Horror Pain Gore Death/Armageddon Label/Atomic Action!/Metal Swarm

14 June 2019

What a way to make a much wilder, more real, surprisingly good-sounding huge racket in extreme metal. This recording sounds so refreshing. It almost seems like a live recording at which the listener is present: the drums sound big, good and noisy, in which you can see and hear the movement of the cymbals, and the human that is playing the drums. The drumming by itself is a central attraction on this recording. Moreover, the way that the drums have been recorded is outstanding. Overall, the drum sound and the drumming itself adds so much to the identity of this recording. They refer to themselves as D-beat thrash, so I guess the category-loving people can put them in there somewhere in the more savage forms of crossover.

The vocals in this case truly sound as close as possible to a raging, maniacal lunatic, this side of actually being an insane person in an explosive rage. It is not that the vocals seem angry and all that, it is the way that the screaming, ranting and raving sounds good. It is not brutal-macho-posturing growling nonsense, it is not evil-posturing screechy-cat vocals, it is the art of working the voice muscles towards approaching the unfolding of unleashed rage at the top of the lungs while still remembering this is part of a song. This type of vocals has historically come from the faster, rawer, heavier forms of punk meeting metal, and it would be astounding, almost unbelievable, if this vocalist has not been screaming for at least several years in this or other extreme punk-metal bands.

It is refreshing to hear a band play extreme metal this way. The songs are quick and efficient. This is nine songs in 24 minutes (including a two-songs-in-one-track cover of the 1980s cult thrash act Znowhite). All the songs are easy to grasp and it does not take repeated listens to feel the energy. The first time will do it. For many metal fans, this band might shock them because of how non-computerized, non-safe, non-clinical and utterly wild it all sounds.

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