Thornspawn / Kill – United in Hell’s Fire Split
Once again we have a split that is very evenly matched. Both band’s styles complement the other but offer distinct personality and sound in their own right. We’ll begin with the Thornspawn tracks as they are a band new to me.
One thing I dislike are intros, especially when they go over about 10 seconds. Thankfully Thornspawn was (excuse the shitty pun) music to my ears, and as soon as the notes of a guitar began I knew I would like it. With a nice home studio guitar sound and lo-fi drumming they obliterate any hint of an intro with swift, harsh and momentous riffage.
Without the need to embellish themselves the opener clocks in at just shy of three minutes. Their sound is like a rawer version of Morbosidad, employing that angry “balls out” approach that makes South American Black Metal so enjoyable. This is made all the more surprising by the fact that they attack from Texas. Regardless of their nationality its the music that counts and Thornspawn is fucking nasty, simple and aggressive Black Metal played well and produced in a true underground fashion. Quality.
Kill’s four tracks are more like another two bands. I mean that two have quite a different sound to the other two because they were recorded about the time of the “No Catharsis” album in 2009 and the others in 2010. The great thing about Kill is you know what to expect: just simple, harsh but punishing heavy berserking. Simple it may be but so effective and belligerent it needs no complexity to deliver the goods.
“Unlight Ritual” and “Let Hell Reign” continue on the theme of the above mentioned album with the best grotty undead vocals in the genre fused with catchy and furious riffing. Wait until you hear the middle section of “Let Hell Reign” when Warslaughter viciously snarls “I want to suffer, I want pain”….Vintage Kill.
Then the last two and newer tracks materialise, with a crisper, harsher edge to them. The bass is still there but they must have eaten their sound engineer in favour of a different sound. I’m not sure if this is a new approach for the band but it sounds fucking brilliant.
Overall this is a great little release, well worth your coin, for the calibre of music contained is extremely good. There aren’t many consistent split albums out there but this is without doubt in the top handful of ones that are. Severely recommended.
Black Metal is dead. In the UK at least. Seeing as though it is the place that gave birth to the genre it is as fuckin’ useless a broke-dick dog. There is no scene to speak of, just the odd one or two equally useless bands trying in vain to mimic some of the more [...]
Opening with a song title of the length Bal Sagoth would be proud of (thankfully that’s as the only comparison to draw), the imaginatively titled ‘A Glimpse of the Image of Lucifer Gleaming Beyond the Subterraneous Black Sun’ marches forth. Mid paced, it stamps away with the precision of a well oiled Black Metal machine [...]
nice split!yea and KILL is my cup of tea.heh!