Not really the biggest fan of splits as they are rarely from two artists that I like. Since Satanic Warmaster starts things off with the blasty 'Black Destiny", They have more to prove since I already know I like Archgoat and I have really only caught these guys in passing on Last Fm. What sounds to be synths in the background offers up a little more atmosphere than what their flavor of raw Finnish black metal offers. The lyrics which like the album title suggests are thick with devil worship and more easily deciphered than you might think. 'Wolves of Blood and Iron" they are cursing the jewish creation, and I can hear that these guys are pretty passionate with what they are doing and it spills over into the blood of their music. Sonically both songs carry the same dynamics until it slows into a more majestic gallop, not in the Moonsorrow sense as this retains its rough edges. But these guys are beginning to win me over. The opening riff to cover of Pest's 'Satanic Winter" makes it sound like a circle pit is going to open up. The vocal have a more choked tone to them. On the chorus the vocals are doubled up with a lower death metal growl.
Despite the touches of ambiance in the background there is a more straight forward blast to "My Kingdom of Darkness' that I don't seem compelling until they get to the chorus where is more obvious they care about song writing more than blasting. Then it switches over to Archgoat's " Jesus Spawn", this is a more gurgled and gritty take on the genre, feeling more like death metal to me. Only gets more melodic when the solo comes into slow it for a minute before the go back into the grime ridden frontal assault. It's evident that these guys have grown as song writers , because there is just more meat to the matter on their last album. They do have more of a groove captured on "Penis Perversor" . The dives into the solos are very Morbid Angel here. "Angelcunt' finds back at more primitive death metal state that to me recalls Amon era Deicide. "Satanic Oath" is just a burst of an interlude before the grinding blast of "Soulfay". They continue down a similar left hand path of grim ridden gurgling this time with a little more groove to it on "Black Messiah" , but they still keep things true to their more primal earlier days.
They blast into your face like a money shot from hell with the raw explosion of "Thrice Damned Sodomizer". I listened to this song in three different sitting and it never resonated more than being a rather obtuse piece of curdled density. Their final offering and the 13th hymn is you are following along in your hymnals " Rise of the Black Moon" is a much more engaging listen that lives up to where they are now as a band and would make sense in their current live set. Overall this one caught me off guard as I was way more into Satanic Warmaster's contribution's than Archgoat's , so this can be seen as positive in the sense that it shows how much Archgoat has grown as songwriters , it also makes me want to check out Satanic Warmaster's last album. I'll round it up to a 7. Which is the average for this album with Satanic Warmaster earning a 9 for their songs and Archgoat getting a 5.5.
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