Nekrist – Slava Satan
The Hell Furnace isn’t always stoked to maximum capacity, because between shifts both Stug and myself have to venture down the adjoining Black Metal mine to the seam and whip out our specially imbued pickaxes. We don’t always chip off what we’re prospecting for, but every once in a while we manage to unearth a few rare or precious items. This is one such valuable find; a recording from 2007 that will blunt the very strongest tungsten or diamond-tipped face mining drills.
We begin with a slow regimental drum roll and a sinister spike-laden riff that rapidly gives off a flavour of the low-fi aura encasing this demo. It’s a pretty generic intro but all that gets blown into orbit as the title track splits the airwaves with the force of atoms colliding in the midst of a nuclear explosion. The first thing that grabbed my attention, after the supremely snarled opening vocals, is the ferocity and violence of the drumming, with a breakneck and agile cymbal-heavy assault.
Unsoiled by production this is the underground at its necrotic best and the base quality is afforded to every instrument. The guitars sound frosty and malevolent and are a whirlwind of high-pitched chords following a set pattern, until they make a key change at just the right moment and accelerate away from the already ultra-brisk tempo. Couple this with the rich and throaty soil-infested barking of Kletvenik and it makes for a wicked brew of raw purity not often heard since the early 1990s.
‘Lord Of Silence And Strength’ kicks off in a similar manner, but Nekrist manipulate their instruments in a more technical fashion. Sure, the main riff doesn’t stray too wildly from their normal verse construction but the inclusion of some well-orchestrated breaks and a nasty as fuck single note riff really make the song. This also makes you realise the potential this band have with their style and methods of execution.
‘Rog U Krvi’ is next up and reduces the tempo somewhat, although it doesn’t really feel like they’re doing much pausing for breath as more rampant undead howling cuts loose. To me, this song, with its high pitched key changes and precision drumming, has a feel similar to Immortal’s Pure Holocaust album. I prefer the home-made style production of this offering though.
The final phase of unwavering attack is ‘Orthodox Misanthropy’ which brings together all the darkly nutritious substance of the previous songs into a gloopy Black Metal broth. It’s a little heavier than the others but keeps dipping back into high-pitched sawing.
The only criticism I can offer about this is the level of the bass; you have to try really hard to even slightly notice it. Intentional or not, this produces an excellent raw and metallic sound that you can’t fail to enjoy. In every respect, the vocals, guitars and percussion are all top notch. Unbelievably, they remain unsigned (to date) but I doubt that will last for long as they work on new material. In the meantime, I suggest you get hold of this for your collection as this could well be in the underground classic Hall of Infamy in future.
I only recently discovered Rahu, who purvey original and very replayable Finish Black Metal of the highest calibre. This is a demo from 2008 that has since been released as part of a best of featuring this and their other demo on one CD.
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woooo…great stuff…
agree with kratos…quality stuff…