The Sermon of Vengeance

Black September is presumably named after the early 70s conflict between Jordan and Palestine. This makes a lot of sense as The Sermon of Vengeance is standofifsh and war-like. The genre-agnostic band pummels in a delightful mixture of styles ranging from crust to death metal. While not necessarily a sweeping victory, Sermon is a well-executed blitz campaign.

The Bandcamp blurb speaks of Bolt Thrower meeting the majesty of Bathory. The Bolt Thrower reference hits the mark. "Purification" has the crusty death metal of early Bolt Thrower and crushing riffs to match. There's a lot more hardcore influence, which makes this a real rager. "Blood For Oceans" is presumably what the Bathory reference is aimed towards. While there certainly aren't any comparisons to make to Bathory's more majestic viking metal fare, the dirty paws of the first wave scene is all over this. There's also a lot of influence a little past that, but not by much. A lot of the rudimentary, primordial (but clearly full on black metal) tremolo riffing of Master's Hammer's Ritual is written all over this. The song ends in what sounds like Nausea covering something off Realm of Chaos - they ride out a big crusty twisted groove riff, and it's an impossible amount of fun.

I decided to check out Black September because of their excellent addition to the Thou split. If I"m mildly dissapointed with The Sermon of Vengeance, it's only because I was expecting something different. There's none of that smoldering blackened hardcore mixed with churning sludge I was hoping to hear again. That said, crusty Bolt Thrower worship with a touch of first wave? Sign me up, fam. They know their way around a riff, and the style proves to be an infectiously filthy melting pot of different styles I all dig quite a bit. Good stuff, boys. Black September is proving to be a very versatile band that can crush in a variety of styles.