All hyllest til Satan

I’ll admit the first time I heard “All Hyllest Til Satan” I laughed pretty damn hard. The next few times I forced Bloodsworn’s long-awaited record, I felt like I was wasting my time. Fast forward a few weeks, and I feel quite the opposite. In fact, this release, although flawed, is still fairly listenable despite my predispositions to write a scathing review about how horrible I thought it was primordially. Needless to say, Bloodsworn is a black metal that, according to legend, had “All Hyllest Til Satan” all tucked away and ready to go, but ten years flew by before these Norwegian champs got a chance to officially release it. However, it is finally here for your listening pleasure for better or for worse.

But regardless of how you may or may not see Bloodsworn’s performance, these gentlemen deserve a pat on the back for showing utter mastery of the ‘brutal’ black metal sound; that is, blast beats, sharp tremolo riffs and nothing else. The guitar foundation, for one, is actually very well-crafted and diversified between prototypical black metal riffs, noteworthy grooves, fun thrash touches, and loads and loads of wonderful soloing with lots of headbanging and fun attached. The production – irony on the side, please – withholds and fades the overall sound a bit, and without said aspect, my opinion would most likely change voluminously, because over-produced noisecore seizure is my fucking nightmare, but this? No way! It’s actually quite enjoyable. Essentially, Bloodsworn has the blast-laden game banked in and a stellar guitar attack that helps divert away from sketchiness that would typically follow.

And the rest of the album becomes a complete disaster afterwards; there’s no other way to put it. Below such admirable guitar work resides a hidden demon that many have summoned beforehand and only few have survived its horrid wrath: a drum machine that sounds like a collection of beats from Mario Paint. Honestly, I can only assume Bloodsworn used a drum machine due to the constant ticking and counterfeit feeling, although I couldn’t find out whether or not it is. Needless to say, the snare and toms are so fake it hurts, while the ticking foot pedals are equally embarrassing. To put the icing on the cake, the vocals, too, are very inconsistent overall. Faded and with no impact, throat is clearly the least important aspect of “All Hyllest Til Satan,” and after factoring in the mixture of all these characteristics, I just find the whole thing mildly bland. The riffs and solos are certainly enjoyable, but the constant ticking and abhorrent shouting does a devastating number on what could have been. Disappointing.

They say credit is given when credit is due, and in some ways, it most certainly is, yet that does not change the obvious conclusion that woes plagued “All Hyllest Til Satan” in unforgivable fashions which contaminate the relevant and crush a lot of potential decency. However, this reviewer originally discarded Bloodsworn entirely after hearing this offering a few times, but giving it a second chance was indeed a fitting decision, albeit still a burdened one. I’d assume most would find minimal to moderate content within “All Hyllest Til Satan,” yet I am certain a handful of black metal buffs will find a diamond in the rough throughout Bloodsworn’s respectable effort.

This review was written for: www.Thrashpit.com