Unholy Terror Union

In 2003 one of the most promising black metal bands in Europe, Azaghal, recorded one song for this split 7” with one obscure reality from Italy, Gosforth. Black Blood Production organized this split and I successfully managed to get my personal, original copy out of 666. The first side of this 7” starts with Gosforth and “God Liar Prophet” song. The introduction is made of strange sounds before the mid-paced march of the instruments enters. The early Immortal influences are prevalent here but when the up tempo comes we can even notice some Hellhammer spores, as the black metal screams are truly evil even if not that original or astounding. The production is quite powerful, especially for the drums that acquired a lot of power. The few mid-paced moments show some arpeggios too but nothing excessive because the old school black metal elements are dominant. “Ancient Knowledge” follows the same style, so we can find more savage, old style up tempo and a maze of black riffs.

The B side is all for Azaghal and a quite long song, “Tuoni/Virvatulia”. The long introduction is for the march-like drums and the keyboards. What comes after is the black, schizophrenic “mess” (in a good way) of the typical Azaghal’s drumming and riffing. Some sections are so weird because there are some obscure arpeggios over the blast beats and they bring some clean vocals too, to create an amazingly ritualistic atmosphere. The main riffs are already distinguishable because they are catchy, in the classic Azaghal style. The vocals are demonic, raspy and the whole song transmits the classic sensation of frost and obscurity. The slower sections and the arpeggios are simply amazing for the decadent mood, closing a very good split between two good bands. Unfortunately Gosforth are too overlooked here in Italy but I hope they will succeed in creating their scene.