Fucking Bleed

So I was totally impressed by Hellstorm's Sacrifice Sacrifice sophomore full-length from 2009, enough to go back in time to 1999 (those guys had a bit of a sabbatical it seems) to catch the first album and see what they were all about in the old days. I would duly recommend Sacrifice Sacrifice to any lovers of old school speed/thrash with a nice fun evil motif thrown in, but Fucking Bleed knows how to push my buttons in an entirely different way, thanks to songs like 'Snakeraped' and particularly 'Bitch, Slut, Whore', which has lyrics that I don't really want to promote, but can be understood to be pretty vile and misogynistic. On the other hand, I guess the whole concept of black metal being "evil" should extend to things I'm not comfortable with as well as those I am, so let's just say that I don't support that particular branch of "evil" and move on to the music.

Ten years earlier, Hellstorm were obviously still a bit more involved in the black metal sound that peripherally influenced their second album, since there is more in the way of blasting and scuzzy tremolo riffing, though this is a lot closer to Venom than Emperor and definitely dallies with thrash and punk in nearly equal measures to the black arts. I think one reason why this can be said to descend directly from punk is the warm, fuzzy bass presence of Elden, which is not content to glower away at the bottom of the sound, pumping out audio petrol like a motorbike outside your window at night, grunting and chugging even when the aural intensity of 'Toxic BBQ' swells into Darkthrone territory, not to mention the more strident metal riffage of 'The Prisoners', which might have fitted onto a late '80s Bathory album or Immortal's material since At the Heart of Winter. The vocals are also pretty ragged and not in the typical "shrieking at the moon about the unfairness of Christianity's arrival on these wintry shores and the imminent anti-crucifixion of all its ideals" manner. Sure, Dr Amok croaks in his best Abbath impression at times, but he also shouts his way through 'Bitch, Slut, Whore' like a Norwegian Johnny Rotten, so it's not entirely necro or kvlt.

Another thing that won't go down well with black metal purists is the fun that can be obtained from banging your head until it falls off, which a lot of the groovier and thrashier riffs demand as a minimum requirement. Vorgon was clearly not under any obligations to remain in grim mode all the time either, peppering songs like 'Awaiting Death' with jaunty Clive Burr-esque beats, which is what happens just before his bandmates go off on a suitably Iron Maiden trajectory, playing a warm melody from Somewhere in Time like they never noticed the blasts and grim rhythmic breakdown straddling it on either side. Nonetheless, the faster songs all contain some straight black metal riffing, 'Forked' and 'No Decay' cutting as sharply as their titles suggest, while 'No Decay' is the only full-on thrasher, rivalling Aura Noir in the intensity stakes and adding in a great slower section to the middle, which oozes with bad intentions. Perhaps it's just my taste, but I don't feel like the band manage to build up quite such a head of steam and fug of atmosphere as they were to show 10 years later, caused in part by the swiftness of some transitions between black metal blasting and the more intriguing diversions, which is most noticeable in closer 'Psychodelic Nightmare'. Nonetheless, we don't get any bad songs, lots of ideas are rather different to your typical black or thrash or even black thrash albums, and the distastefulness of a few lyrics is largely overcome by the good taste of the musicianship.

As such, this album comes recommended for fans of loose black metal that isn't afraid to try other things or inject some spirit from other disciplines, as may be learned from the (probably jokey) laughter that ends the album, into which the voice of a squeaky little kid is mixed. If you want something to drink beers and/or abuse furniture to, songs like 'Toxic BBQ' and 'Snakeraped' are pretty damned hard to beat.