Atomic Warriors of Sodom

Atomic Curse, as their aesthetic and choice for imagery and song-titles so clearly imply, are a bestial black metal outfit hailing from Paraguay, in the heart of the south American continent. Although Atomic Curse borrows a lot of elements from the music of Beherit, Blasphemy and other gargantuan names within this infamous sub-scene of black metal, one cannot strictly define this demo as a "war black metal" demo, without doing this demo a small amount of disservice.

Unlike most raw black metal bands, Atomic Curse do not limit themselves to writing songs made up of one simple chord progression repeated ad-nauseum, instead, although the fundamental nature of this demo is bestial to the bone, the artists still manage to incorporate different playing styles. For example, "Atomic Warriors of Sodom" is fast and bestial, however, it has a few moments where the vibe leans more towards the epic side of the black metal sound, rather than simple rawness and ferocity.

This demo is quite short only lasting for a little bit over a quarter of an hour. However, those fifteen minutes are filled with visceral and relentless hateful riffing ala Von and Bathory. The drumming style is quite diverse, with the drummer making liberal use of blast-beats which are reinforced with the inclusion of several interesting drum-fills and tempo-changes. One thing which will become obvious after a few listens, is the impact that hardcore punk has had on this Paraguayan outfit.

The production on this demo is very impressive given the fact that most probably little to no effort was put to record and put out this bestial piece of musical cacophony. The guitars do get trampled under the drums and the vocals sometimes, however, the few leads that are interspersed throughout this entire release, manage to cut through the background noise, and deliver a crystal clear technical assault. The vocalist sounds a lot like most singers that have managed to shape the first wave of black metal. His shrieks have a raw ferocity which only a few other vocalists have. For this fact alone, Atomic Curse is a band totally worth checking out.

In conclusion, this demo is a great little demo brimming with pure hatred.