Inferno

As the title implies, this little masterpiece is so twisted into obscurity that it's barely even recognizable as something that evolved from Bathory and Darkthrone. Inferno is one of those albums that is essentially black metal, stripped of the metal. So yeah, you could just call this black.

Black.

What, that isn't enough of a review? Yeesh, okay. Well, I suppose that is one word I can sum this whole recording up with, because this is one of the coldest, harshest, crudest, darkest, blackest pieces of music I've ever heard. And make no mistake, when I say cold, I ain't talking about no Immortal or I.C.E. There is no satanic snow or frozen hellstorms to be found here, instead this is cold in the sense that the heart of Hitler might be, this piece of music really sounds like the grinding clockwork cogs of the mind of some wicked dictator as he commands his possessed legions to commit genocide against the innocent. Really, as far as cold goes as a descriptive of one's personality, this is one of the coldest pieces of music I've ever heard.

It's cold and it's black.

What, even more? Jeez, okay. Well, for those who know who John Gill is, who have read his writings about black metal before or maybe crossed path with a few Black Tribe or Alpha Drone compositions, this is really what you'd expect him to see as perfect black metal. If you want some actual musical description, this is raw, industrial, black music with hypnotic, traditional black metal riffs, a drum machine that doesn't hide behind a disguise of a false drumskin but actually holds a "harsh machine drumming" banner with pride, some eerie piano passages coming in every now and then and the harsh vocals of John Gill ranging from the traditional black metal hiss to some dark narration here and there. The most imporant factor is the actual composition skill that John has, though, as the flow is the most defining element for me. Harsh electronic drums and dark riffs are all well and good, but it takes a real genius to put together those elements into songs so well. And, on this release (which, I personally believe, John has never topped) he uses his songwriting skill in combination with his sinister ideas of redefining black metal to create something truly worthy of being titled a new black metal masterpiece.

Don't miss this one guys, this is essential black metal history, even if it is criminally overlooked. Get it if you can.