This is the fourth album by these Norwegian men in makeup, and now I understand why small animals and children are not allowed within 100 yards of their live shows. This is some brutal 90's inspired death metal, released by Southern Lord with four live bonus tracks, all of which are equally evil. As with many of the European black metal bands, members have enjoyed stints in other bands. In this case, those bands are VULTURE LORD, and KVIST (who may or may not still be active). Members go by different names, or symbols or colors or sounds, or etchings, or tastes. You get the point. Listed on the credits, and I quote, "Enzifer--666 six strings of electrotorture; Trondr Nefas--666 lead strings of hell spawn devastation and necrovoice of blasphemy; Sregroth--sodomizing bass-strings of death; and Uruz--warbattery". Well, for some reason, my wife would not let me book these guys to play my son's first communion. Why? I don't get it. Let me also tell you folks, that these guy's stage get-ups make Wes Craven's last movie look like "The Teletubbies go to the Petting Zoo". I swear to you that while I was reviewing this disc, my son walked in here, picked up this CD, and dropped it like a stone as he ran from the room calling, "Mommy!!". I really don't know what the best part of this thing is, the music or the "visuals".

Lyrical content is very dark, and by that I mean quite satanic. Titles like "Raise The Symbols of Satan", and "Satanic Deathlust" should give you the idea. All in all though, it is a good pickup for fans of early 90s black metal. This one won't set the world on it's ear, but it is a good example of straight ahead blasphemous death rawk The music is very tight, and has a raw feel without being sloppy. The vo-kills are typical of the genre, although a little more toward the SODOM-esque Angelripper, than Barnes-esque SIX FEET UNDER stuff. The playing is not all a whir either as there is some slow to mid-paced chuggery as well. I'm glad Southern Lord took a chance on the band because this effort is just a step away from being something fresh and new, and their use of the black metal blueprint is quite efficient. Fans of IMMORTAL, and SATYRICON, and even MAYHEM should find a new friend in satan in URGEHAL. By the way, check out the Southern Lord link above for some info and pics of the band, as well as the snuff-film type cover art. Comic relief: the "666 lead strings of hell spawn devastation" happens to be a Les Paul, sunburst orange. Maybe they'll cover "Free Bird" on their next record, perhaps rewritten as "Free the black, evil, crapping in the eye of Satan, vulture bird of death".

- Murtaugh

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/urgehalblackmetal

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