May is now two days out the door, so jsut catching up on this as I was trying to get ahead of kicking off June's Death Metal month, and life was being life, so now I am getting caught up, so let's get you abreast of new releases. This might help you, casual readers, with what you might have missed. I am not doing little blurbs on them, just linking the reviews. This helps me organize my lists for the end of the year by listing the album's genre. This does not mean that these albums have been released this month, but it is a list of new or upcoming albums I have enjoyed the most. I have albums in my in-box that won't come out until August, so I am normally way ahead of the curve in this regard. They are ranked in order of how much I have listened to them. This month, leaned more on heavy stuff ranging from New Wave to Doom, so perhaps you will find your new favorite among them. Here are the Top 10 albums for May of 2026.
The 16th album in the career of this project, which now counts Cronos as the sole original member. Things have not changed a great deal thanks to Cronos's voice that finds him belting it out with the same throaty zeal that drove their earlier. In fact, this album is more metal and less punk than what people would call Venom's most classic work. There is more of a thrashing feel to "Lay Down Your Soul". They hammer at you with the intensity of a Motorhead song. It's catchy enough even at this amped up speed. There is more of a gallop to "Nevermore" which works well; in fact, it's the best of the first three songs.
There is a more overt metal sense to the riffing that was not in the band's classic work, but it's pretty effective and sounds relevant in 2026. "Man & Beast" should please most headbangers, but the punk rock side of their older fan base is not going to be into this, but oh well, it sounds fucking good to me. Though "Death the Leveller" is closer to their more punk side, as a whole, this album reclaims their place in the classic metal hall of fame.
"As Bove So Below" gallops into darker regions draped in their pseudo Satanic musings whih are entertaining but not something I am going to stake a seriously as I did as a teenager. There is a faster thrashing to "Kicked out of Hell" that is not as effective as what they did on the previous song. "Legend" is darker and more epic, with a more deliberate stomp that brings Celtic Frost to mind. "Live Loud" works of a similar but more driving chug. The drummer proves himself to me on this song. You can't ignore the palm-muted chug to "Metal Bloody Metal" at the very least carries echoes of White Zombie. But it still works. The drumming on "Dogs of War" helps to seal the deal.
"Deathwitch" is pretty powerful and heavy enough to punch above its weight class. These guys were once considered to be on the heavier side of the genre when they came on the scne but now, as times have changed, their earlier albums are more middle of the road, so this album shows where they stand in today's metal world. There is a creepier atmosphere, thanks to the subtle use of synths on the last song, which helps to create a more sinister mood. I will round this album up to a 10 as it makes me a fan again, and Cronos is bringing the legacy of this band back to where it needs to be. Fans of metal should give this album a shot, it's impressive. and exceeding my expectations. Dropping on Noise Records.
The crossroads from which the genre we now know of as black metal were a place that punk, thrash, and death metal met at. Half of these were under ground when they came out and often had to be ordered from an ad in the back of a metal magazine as normal record stores did not carry them. We take this for granted today as they became though of a classic, the most important thing about black metal is it is dark, if it is Satanic which it should be then even better. Which as a kid growing up in the 80s if band was satanic then I just lumped in in with what we knew of as black metal at the time. Most metal heads in the 80s were listening to thrash at best, the rest were listening to what we now think of as power metal or cock rock. Bands like Venom became more popular as their albums began looked upon with reverence of the forefathers of what was to come. Here are the top 10 albums of the 80s that paved the way for what black metal is today.
10- GISM - "Detestation"
This 1984 release by Japanese punk rockers, is rough when it comes to even the production of the 80s. The feral sounds within it clearly left a mark on black metal and earn this album a place on this list.
9-Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark"
Not even this project's best album, but in terms of black metal from this time period, it is way ahead of its time in the manner it marries pagan folk sounds into the metal. Many bands have tried since but tend to get stuck making Viking drinking songs.
8-Sarcofago - "INRI"
While very rough around the edges, the cult status of this album is not unfounded. One of those early death metal releases that sounds so evil and demented it crosses over, before anything was being labelled as blackened in the metal world.
7-Sabbat -" History of Time to Come "
This album shows how blurred the lines were in 1988 between thrash and what would become black metal. This band was founded by now producer and fill in guitarist for Judas Priest Andy Sneap. He was just a teenager when he founded this band. Hooky riffs are a selling point, but the signature to their sound has to be the raspy snarl of vocalist Martin Walkyier. It is still being imitated by black metal bands today.
6- Deicide- "s/t"
The layered vocals sounded like demons coming out of Glen Benton. He seemed very serious about hating Jesus which was impressive to me as a teenager. The music itself is a bulldozer and does not relent. Sure, this is a death metal classic, but it is feral enough to belong here.
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-5-Celtic Frost - "To the Mega Therion"
In 1985 no one thought of this as black metal, but we knew it was too weird and dark to be mentioned alongside many other bands aside from Venom and Mercyful Fate. My love for this band lies in their odder moments and willingness to experiment which is what gives this album a darker edge.
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4- Christian Death= "Sex Drugs and Jesus Christ"
No one will argue punks influence on black metal, but what about the darkest most blasphemous sub-genre of punk death rock? This band claims they made music for punks who like Halloween and though into the occult more than satanism they stepped up their disdain for religion on this album. Only Theater of Pain is largely regarded as their best work, which is true, but this one is darker and more akin to what blakc metal would become as you can hear traces of them in bands like Watain.
3-Venom- "Black Metal"
Of course, this album has to be in the top 3. This band was almost as punk as they were metal since they were as much about their attitude and raw macho aggression of their music. They were good enough musicians to get the job done but not close to the two bands taking top place above them, though this album stood the test of time and how can it not be included?
2-Slayer- "Hell Awaits"
One of the biggest bands in metal was darker than they are now. The speed they played with certainly influenced black metal as well as the evil feeling of their riffs. We now know that the whole satanic thing for Slayer was just a gimmick, yet their love for things like Nazi war crimes and serial killers is like worshipping darkness in its human incarnation. Not their best album, but their most black metal one.
1-Mercyful Fate - "Don't Break the Oath"
The big reason this is number one is because the songs have stood the test of time. Another reason is the King is not playing around, he is an actual Satanist, and the feeling permeates the music. All black metal that came after this owes this band a debt. Black metal is not about its rawness that is punk it is about its darkness.
This is for all practical purposes the album the genre took its name from. It gets credited by influencing a great many of today's black metal artists, but is it any good? I was really into it as a teenager, but I was also more into punk then, and Venom much like Motorhead straddles the line between being a punk band and a metal band. The first song is a anthem with a punk drive to it, very straight forward and works off its energy and attitude. The same can be said for " To Hell and Back". It is not until "Buried Alive" that they actually convey darkness. There is a very rock n roll feel to the groove the guitar solo is over. " Raise the Dead" sounds like an extension of of "Buried Alive" but it is like a faster dynamic the song would have built into.
"Teacher's Pet" is more punk and lyrically pretty silly. "Leave Me in Hell" is a rock n roll ripper that makes more sense black metal could have evolved from, though going back to listen to it this could be a pumped-up AC/DC on more high voltage drugs. "Sacrifice" picks up where that song left off, though there is a darker malice to this one. I think here is where it bears mentioning, that Venom was always just playing around with the occult imagery for shock value, much like Slayer, and that it can be felt in the more party flavor of the music, where a Mercyful Fate or even Celtic Frost album has a more tangible darkness to it. There is a more Van Halen like sense of adventure in the guitar for "Heaven's on Fire". It is another song that gets caught up in the momentum invoking more of a punk sound than Satanic one.
Perhaps the blackest song on the album is also the album's best "Countess Bathory". This lyrically as more Hammer Horror feel, but the chorus has the album's best vocal hook. Cronos snarls his way through this entire album like an ill-mannered pirate, with "Buried Alive" being one of the rare moments where some other feeling is conveyed by his delivery. They end the album on a metal note with the riff to "Don't Burn the Witch" being pretty impressive with the menace it carries. I will round this one up to a 9.5, not making a flawless classic, but merit's much of it's hype for a reason that can be heard here, I think it is just as much of a punk album as it is a metal one, but only scored that high as they care about song wirting more than your average punk band.
Before you get your bullet belt twisted with what is about to go down here. I am not writing commentary with each entry, instead I will cryptically foreshadow the reasoning for where these bands fall. I typically defaulted to Last Fm so this is ranked by most listened to by me. Since it is my blog it only makes sense I can think I am a huge fan of one band but if I never listen to them how good can they really be? There are bands that are supposed classics , and well they did make the list and this is the top 66 black metal bands out of hundreds. If they did not rank as high as you liked well go make your own fucking list or start your own fucking blog.
There will not be much in the way of Raw or Beastial black metal, because they tend so sound like shit . There are many sub-genres represented here, Atmospheric, progressive , first wave, depressive...so lots of ground is going to be covered. I have also included the country so we will have a clearer picture of who is exporting the best black metal. The tracks chosen are not the best , but the 6th track from my favorite album unless my favorite album does not have six songs and then I am picking the album before that one, if that one doesn't have six songs then I keep going back until I find one that does. So here ya go the Top 66 Black Metal bands of all time.
In my mind Venom is the band with Cronos in it and not a band with a Demolition Man or whoever is trying to pass off Venom Inc as the real thing. With that said there is more of a thrash sound to Cronos' voice on the new album, so it doesn't sound just like the classic Venom. But then neither does the other guys. The 2nd song "Notorious" has more of that classic Venom sound, though perhaps with a more deliberate thrash like chug to it, when "At War with Satan" era Venom had a more Motorhead punk like feel to. Cronos' voice sounds more in line with what I expect from him here and the touch of the 80s rocks it rock around the guitar riff at times. There is a darker touch to "I Dark Lord" which finds Cronos coming closer to actually singing .
"100 Miles to Hell" is more melodic and carries more hook to it than the more up tempo "Dark Night" which has a simpler thrashing pound. They slow down for the more deliberate "Beaten to a Pulp" which is only marginally more melodic and works off more of a throb before building up into something more thrashy. "Destroyer" breaks down on it's verses and sounds more like classic Venom , except for the fact the bass sits back in the mix rather than having the raw rumble of their earlier work. "The Mighty Have Fallen" is more of a blister thrash, that sounds like it could have been one of a 1000 bands from the late 80s. This is not to say I don't like their more thrashing side as they do it much better on "Over My Dead Body" which locks into a heavier groove for the verses. It's really hit or miss , as the riff to "Suffering Dictates" is more run of the mill however this is balanced out by Cronos' vocal pattern which he spits out in more of a classic manner.
"We the Loud" is another old school thrash song that attempts to work off their old formula , but is not that interesting until the final minute when it hits more of a groove. Their is more of an 80s metal feel to "Immortal". This is not a bad thing as the metal from the 80s was written with a great deal of hooks to it since the bands were more influenced by 70s rock. Then they pick up the pace for the title track that finds the guitars having more of a Judas Preist feel. Lyrically it is hard to take this album seriously as we know the Satanic references are only for fun and we have much more devout believers making music these days than we did when the only one used to be King Diamond. I'll give this album an 8, it's better than most of the younger thrash bands.
I prefer the more pagan leanings of this holiday, but when you have a 6 year old they want to hear x-mas music even when they are in their own words " Quarters Jewish". We tried the Taylor Swift x-mas album, but that was recorded when she was in the more innocent xtian side of her country roots so we had to put a stop to that after the second time she said Jesus. So here are some X-mas songs I approve of.
10- The Xmas Song - London After Midnight
Not their strongest song, but better than listening to Taylor Swift's Jesus years.
9- " Christmas Vacation"- Descendants
Lyrically this one is pretty spot on for me this year. I need to give this band more of a shot as I like them when I hear them going to go listen to "Milo Goes to College" while I finish this list.
8-"Merry X-mas( I don't Wanna Fight Tonight)" Ramones
Originally from "Brain Drain" a criminally under rated album, makes me wanna do a top 20 punk albums of all time to show it the props it deserves.
7-" Mistress For X-mas"- AC/DC
Thought about checking out the Halestorm cover, but since I am more fluent in the original it is obviously the way to go even though the 80s production leaves a little to be desired.
6-" If I was Your Vampire"- Marilyn Manson
Six a.m X-mas morning...
5- "Frosty the Snow Man"- the Cocteau Twins
This band is the sound of sparkling lights, if you have never dropped acid while riding around looking at x-mas lights with "Heaven or Las Vegas" playing you have not lived.
4-Black X-mas- Venom
Cronos really sounds good on this one. When the snow turns black , I'll be back...
3- X-mas With the Devil- Spinal Tap
The elves are dressed in leather and the angels are in chains...
2- "Red Water"- Type O Negative
This one is a close call between it and the number one slot who makes more sense for me if you know me.
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1- "No Presents For X-Mas"- King Diamond
I bought this single before "Fatal Portrait" so it holds more sentimental value for me.
For a genre driven by hate and forged from the ashes of burned churches, black metal is very passionate , though the concept of love is best expressed in it's basest form. So we have a collection of corpse painted "lust songs". With themes ranging from prostitution, S&M, succubi, dark goddesses to just good ole nun raping. So love is a relative concept and this is being called the top ten black metal love songs, because it has a stronger google force to it than the top ten black metal perverse hymns of lust and carnal vices. Before you get your bullet belts twisted, this list will pull from a few different sub-genres black n roll, blackened death metal and the first wave of old school black metal.
10- Bathory - "Bestial Lust" from "the Return"
9- Venom - "Red Light Fever" from "Welcome to Hell"
8- Dark Funeral - "My Latex Queen" from "Angelus Exuro pro Eternus"
7- Belphegor - "Justine: Soaked in Blood" from "Bondage Goat Zombie"
Some of these get mentioned all the time , so much until the point you begin to wonder if the bands are just citing them because that is what is expected of them. One of these "typical" answers to the "Who are your influences question rank lower than expected. One of the interesting side notes of this is how big of an influence death metal was on black metal, despite often hearing in interview that the second wave of black metal, you know the church burning kind, made the music they did in retaliation of death metal. So I scoured the inner webs for the influences of ten second wave bands, so any band influenced by one of these bands I researched would be too new to count , after these second wave bands have gone on to influence black metal as we know it today .
The bands these influences are compiled from are Mayhem, Burzum, Marduk, Dark Throne, Emperor, Taake, Immortal, Ulver, Enslaved, Dissection
and the results are...
10-Death-
Varg always said he hated the bands that wore cammo shorts, but these guys surprisingly got mentioned more than Sodom and Possessed.
9-Von-
Well Watain took their name from them, but they aren't the only one that cited this lo-fi blasting beat death metal band that is now almost black metal by association.
8 -Kreator
This is not surprising as you can here their influence vocally on the black metal rasp taken on by Taake and Enslaved.
7-Destruction
Liked them when I heard them but this german band is the one band this list whose albums I have never owned.
6-Morbid Angel
"Altars of Madness" got cited a lot. It's dark and awesome, so this makes sense.
5-Slayer
I got the idea to make this list this am , because I woke up thinking about the "Hell Awaits" album. Yes, I wake up thinking about "Hell Awaits " that's how metal I am. Enslaved also wakes up thinking abut Slayer.
4-Venom
This is the band I though more would cite, of course the obvious ones like Darkthrone did.
3-Mercyful Fate
Of Emperor can not hide this fact. Darkthrone also have them a few shout outs over the years.
2- Bathory
The first of the viking metal. I think it is interesting Bathory also cites Mercyful Fate as an influence, but since more bands said Bathory than Fate, this is where it falls.
1- Celtic Frost-
This is interesting as they are one of the slower bands on this list, maybe second to Mercyful Fate. I suppose it might not be their most black metal moment below, though they are wearing make-up
One of the band's whose name alone seems to make them legends. They get credited for creating black metal just because one of their albums bears the same name. I remember getting turned off slightly by them upon realizing they only used satanic imagery as a gimmick like Slayer. Finding out Slayer were not satanists was like finding out Santa Claus wasn't real. They are in the hot seat with their new album as it's time for the band to prove themselves. The last album I paid attention to was "Prime Evil" which came out in '89 and that had "Demolition Man" on it rather than Cronos. So Venom really came to an end after "Ressurection". This is more of a Cronos solo album than Venom. The rest of the band is Danny Needham who also bangs the skins for Tony Martin and Guitarist Stuart Dixon from Order of the Black Sun. Of using the Venom name is smarter than calling this Cronos. No one will buy a Cronos shirt , but you better bet they will be buying Venom shirts.
It opens with a much more metal sound than the original band ever had.The effects on Cronos' voice give him the needed command. I always regarded the band to be more punk than metal, in a similar manner Motorhead is more rock than metal. "the Death of Rock n Roll" finds the band back on the straight forward Motorhead. The rock slant takes a more "Black Album" Metallica direction on the groove fixated "Smoke". It has a powerful chug despite being more like post-Pantera metal. That makes this album comes across like "Cross Purposes" Black Sabbath when they started sounding more like the bands that influenced them than themselves. So all the metal hipsters that think they are so "cvlt" for wearing Venom shirts at this point might as well be wearing Volbeat or Machine Head shirts. They come to more of a compromise between past and present on "Temptation" that still is filled with many of todays modern metal cliches.
Needham gets the job done behind the kit. Cronos' bass tone has always ruled and makes it's comeback on "Longhaired Punks" which lives up to it's name. There is a powerful pound to the jarring head bang of "Stigmata Satanas". The main riff feels more like newer Slayer. the simple chanted chorus is effective as the focus falls on Cronos doing what he does best on the verses. "Crucified" sounds like it almost could have been on Motorhead's "Orgasmatron" album until we get to the melodic break before the solo. More Metallica like riffs roar out from "Evil Law". Cronos puts a decent amount of husk into his voice on this one.
The almost power metal chug of "Grinding Teeth" reminds me a little of W.A.S.P's heavier moments. This song shows that Cronos comes from the time of classic metal where songs were written to pack a concise punch, so there are none of the sprawling ten minute drone filled epics we now think of as black metal. The allows the band to pack this album with 12 songs. While they take you back to the late eighties more often than not, it never feels like the band is wearing out their welcome in hell. Much of his is due to Cronos' charisma. The heaviest song on the album "Mephistopholese" has a Ministry like element to it. The classic metal bashing of "Wings of Valkyrie" is pretty memorable.
Well produced this album doesn't touch say "Give Me Your Soul Please" or Triptykon, but Cronos held is own in this solo effort. If you are a Venom fan and want a Venom album this is of course as close as you are going to get and at times might be a bitter pill if you want another "At War with Satan", but if you take this for what it is then its fun, kept me engaged but doubt I need this in my iPod so I'l give it an 8.
How much roll do you want in your black n roll? That's the first question you should ask before checking out Midnight They have gone past the place Darkthrone was out into sounding more like Venom. It is so straight forward I have to ask myself can I make it through an entire album of this? The homo erotically titled "Prowling Leather" is a little darker , but the verse if almost a joke.Of course this means all the songs are at the three minute mark and even then the repetition makes them seem longer. The title track has potential with the Thin Lizzy like riff. Their singer almost attempts to sing.
They return to their run of the mill rock no roll ways , but with a more punk attitude to it on "The Final Rape of Night" that even comes with gang vocals on the chorus.I prefer when Venom and Darkthrone did this. There is a little more swagger to the cock rock of "Degradation". They should be a Venom tribute band. The easing the foot off the punk works a little better for them here but not much.There is more of a classic metal feel to "Woman of Flame " that starts off like a W.A.S.P song. The vocals by this time begin to feel a little stale as it's the same old same old all over again and it's clear the singer is by and large a one trick pony.
They take a slight turn into Motorhead's neighborhood on "Try Suicide" not that it's a long drive when you have been crashing over at Venom's house.I am really bored at this point and was hoping at least the lyrics to this one would keep me entertained. They get a heavier meatier sound on "Whiplash Disaster" before going back to the worn out rock n roll thing they have beaten well past death at this point.This starts making me think what does Darkthrone do that makes this sort of thing work for them. Well they are better song writers and they maintain their own personality in the process. The chorus to "Whiplash Disaster" reminds me a little of Bonded by Blood Exodus.
"Aggressive Crucifixion" would have worked better as a band name for these guys as like the song title they are redundant.They are back to the punk thing here, and at this point it's all similar shades o the same thing. The guitar solos are decent, the drumming is pretty much dialed in. The bassist could stand to be more present in the mix. They close the album with "Destroy Tsunami's Power' which is a little more thrash. The vocals do what they have been doing for the bulk of the album and the same solos come adding their two cents. They riff here has a little more bite but it doesn't keep this album from really biting. I'll round this down to a 4.5 as I can't remember being this bored by an album in a long time.Not sure why Hell's Headbangers wasted their resources with this, if this is the sort of stuf they normally put out I'll make sure to steer clear of future releases.
Continuing our Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. You might notice some of your favorites on here but lower than expected, well count you lucky pentagrams that they made it all at because the bar is raised even higher and I invoked my Lat Fm page to help me sort this out.
90 - Death - Leprosy
This album captured a better balanced of song writing than their debut which has gained popularity in the new crop of hipster death metal. After this production began to get too slick before they turned into tech/prog with a side of growls. The high point for this band is King Diamond's guitarist Andy La Rocque played with them for a minute.
89- Grim Reaper - See You in Hell
This is a classic metal album but is so heavy on the cheese it winds up down here.
88 - Dream Theater -Awake
This band would be great if every element that sounds like Journey could be extracted, still even with that going against them this is a still a pretty remarkable album.
87 - Fates Warning - No Exit
They are now thought of as one of the forerunners of progressive metal, from their inception they were a poor man's Iron Maiden, then album they injected more of a thrash feel and brought on a more competent singer.
86 -Annihilator- Alice In Hell
Jeff Waters knows how to turn great riffs into great songs, one of the most well written albums from thrash's glory days.
85 - Dark Angel- Leave Scars
They live up to their name making darker thrash than Slayer. They captured a certain intensity that set themselves apart from the other bands of the era.
84- Twisted Sister- Stay Hungry
Sure you have heard "We're Not Going to Take it " on Glee, but songs like "Burn in Hell" and "Captain Howdy" earned this album's place on this list.
83- Venom - Black Metal
The only thing this really has in common with black metal is the name. This album while it is a lot of fun and deserves to be here, has a mythology built around it that its legend doesn't live up to. The reason being is that they were the entry point for a lot of punk rockers into metal. They are more of an influence to High on Fire than Emperor.
82-W.A.S.P - the Last Command
This album was a big step forward for these guys in terms of song writing and production and hits harder than their more hair metal debut.
81-Alice Cooper - Raise Your Fist and Yell
One of the few artists who crosses over from our rock list. Cooper beefed it up to change with the times , knowing that bands like Megadeth, would be opening for him.
I'm all for representing the left hand path, the heavy handed cheese with which it's delivered here takes me back to Venom albums of the eighties so the sincerity with which it's delivered with is questionable. Former Electric Wizard bassist Tas Danazolou kisses the goat here and this brings a little confusion as Electric Wizard were from England but this band is billed as being from Greece?
What this album has that early Venom doesn't is prowess, there is more of a thrash vibe to the riffing, where Venom pounded at their instruments in a vein similar to Motörhead, both both bands I felt sat closer to punk. The vocal delivery is not unlike more growled version of Cronos's delivery. The confusion continues as I wonder who is the Leonard referred to in the night of the whip, that opens the album is this Leonard Nimoy bdsm fan fiction? It's fairly straight forward with liberal smatterings of guitar solos proceeding the songs closing gallop.
The Merciful Fate tribute shades the intro to " between Belial and Satan" before the song takes off old school thrash speed. The drums are slavish in their devotion to the lowest common denominator snare snapping of the time period they adore. The guitar is the clear cut winner here .
The gallop of "one thousand goats" is a bestial anthem if not a beastiality anthem, its this more mid paced riff age that the drummer seems most comfortable playing. The solos are melodic here and tasteful, if not at times "kill'em all" Metallica like, which Metallica isn't like that anymre, they only thing with a lot of this retro stuff is I grew up in the eighties so I heard all of this the first go round, while on metal blade records now back in the days these guys would have been on ear ache records for sure.
This vein of melodic Venom thrash, continues on " hail tritons , hail lucifer" and the satanic lyrics as well as the guitar playing is what keeps me on board. When the pace picks up for the title track, which isn't as galloped the goat song , but has some Maiden like harmonic guitar and gets very " To tame a land" . So the gruff vocals obscure some of the new wave of British heavy metal influences. There are a few phrases where I hear Possessed or Coroner in the vocals, though the have decidedly less personality than the vocals of Coroner. While a decent song " death possessed" bleeds right out of the title track, it begins to make me feel like I'm starting to hear a lot of the same from these guys.
In the albums final streach they are hiding any surprises, what I can say I like about this is where a lot of retro thrash are punk rock kids who figured out how to play their instruments, these songs are firmly planted in metal. I think there could be a little more though placed outside the box and the too straight forward route is often taken for my tastes, when some of the ambiance is what makes an album like " don't break the oath" so great and the vocal hooks are what made early Metallica stand out and come to think of it worked for Venom pretty well. Just thrashing for thrashing on the song like "slaves of the inverted cross" pretty much bores me and there nothing the lyrics or guitar solo can do to help. The uninitiated in this genres glory days might be more easily impressed so if you a re under twenty five add a point to this album.
The song " Satans wrath" is catchy wnought to redeem a few of the lulls and could have fooled me that it wasn't on one of the best of combat records compilations from back in the day, the vocals very Venom could still stand to be higher in the mix due to the anthemic nature of the riffs. Too bad this song wasn't the blue print for the whole album, or they might have even blown bands like In Solitude away. Buti think a 6.66 is a fair rating the band should stand behind as they have to know the influences are worn heavily as the metal on their sleeves here. So where Circle of Ouroborus set the standard of how high you can score on here with shitty production these guys scored as high as you can relying on satanic lyrics to obscure the fact there's not any original riffing , so the key is to believe in the riffs you have stolen, making this highway robbery on the highway to hell.
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90 - Death - Leprosy
