This album of covers opens with a Fabio Frizzi piece . Horror fans will recognize that name as the guy who scored most of Fulci's movies. They do a great job of recapturing the feel of his work. The bells this song ends with leads right into the bells of Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". It's an ambitious song for a sludge band to tackle , but they tackle it pretty hard. Though they could have learned this one back in high school and play it at every sound check. The guitar tone is way heavier than anything Metallica ever had night mares about. James probably heard this and started drinking again. When they lock into the chug leading into the verse its so nasty it's god damn sick. The vocals carry more of a rasp than attempt to sing. It's blown out and dense taking all the thrash out of it , but staying true to the song at the same time. Just when I think I can not say enough about this one they blow my mind with;a cover of "Mandatory Suicide" . These are two metal classics that they stomp over in such a way it is hard for me to not say they are better than the originals. I think the fact that I am old enough to remember when the original versions came out and the impact they had one me are the only factors that force me to bite my tongue.
They do a pretty spot on version of Darkthrone's "Too Old Too Cold" . They vocals are really spot on. This is one of my favorite Darkthrone songs. I prefer this era to when all the vampires got hungry. Eva Rose from Chrch lends her voice to their cover of Danzig's "How the Gods Kill". She was mid way into the first verse until I figured out "Ok , this is a chick doing this ". Danizg immediately feels emasculated upon reading this. To his credit that was a great album and they stuck pretty close to what was already perfect. Their only touch comes when the songs builds up at the midway point. She goes into a tormented vocal and is joined by their vocalist who adds and even meaner growl to the proceedings. I like what she does to the refrain and sings it in more of her alto range. I am less emotionally invested in Hellhammer or Pungent Stench. "Reaper" sounds fine to me , but what do I know I prefer Celtic Frost to Hellhammer. I know I am not getting into hell for that and losing all my cvlt points.
"Only Hunger Remains" sounds more like them than Pungent Stench. Once again a band that I am not as emotionally connected to so open to them having their way with the song. Sonically it is a little more on the death doom side and less sludge driven. The album closes with a recorded version of their song "the Failure". It has a more doomy pulse with tormented vocals. I have read some reviewers say they feel scores of albums are arbitrary. I disagree as how I do them hear if divide the number of songs that are effective and resonate strongly with a listener drawn to the particular genre . A 10 would mean this is then a flawless voctory for the band , which is what this album gets.Spoiler Alert Expect to see it cropping up again on my Top 10 Sludge albums of 2019 list ,
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