Published on Jun 3, 2002
There are four songs on this EP, a “soundtrack of utter
damnation upon the souls brave enough to venture into the blackest
regions of the abyss.”
I’m not sure about all that, but I will say that this band needs
to get a clue. I don’t care how much money you have in your bank
account, you just don’t put out material that sounds like this. I
mean, I’m all for demos and reviewing demos as such, but come on.
These guys should have waited on a few more tables or cut back on
the number of “The Satanic Verses” books they’re buying and put
some of that cash into hiring a producer/recording engineer or
making friends with a budding professional in that arena. This
sounds like garbage.
Not that a remixed version of this release would be awesome.
Chances are, it’d still suck.
Track 1 “Resurrection Denied” is a catastrophic blitz of guitars
and drums in a blur with a vocalist growling. I was about to turn
this off. In an effort to proclaim it “that much more sinister than
the next Black Metal band, the band includes a sound clip that
says, “God is Dead! Satan Lives!”. I have no idea if that is a
lyrical redundancy or if that clip is a new idea.
I arrive at track 2. “Hate” is not the band’s “Stairway To
Heaven” (meaning it’s no masterpiece), but I can begin to pick up
traces of musicianship. Still can’t understand a word the vocalist
is saying, but the song doesn’t try and imitate the first track
with a blurrying display of speed. Instead, the drummer establishes
a groove with a couple of tasty double bass licks (though the mix
is so terrible, it may be the bass mimicking a floor tom/bass drum
lick – – it’s really hard to say) and decent snare/hi-hat
interaction. The vocalist is still screaming so I have no idea if
he accomplished his mission in this barely over 4 minute track
called “Hate.”
There is a decidedly evident dip in mixing quality for track 3,
“Children of Scorn.” The instruments all blend into one another and
like many a person that listened to And Justice for All have asked,
“Is there a bassist in the mix?” Poor musician – – no one can hear
their parts.
“Scorn” lasts for 6:24 and is easily the 2nd worst track so far.
We’ve got “Hate” leading the way as being barely above tolerable,
“Resurrection Denied” and :”Children of Scorn” in a tie. Going into
track 4 (the final one), I’m hoping for a decent track to even the
crap with the barely tolerable.
I see the title of track 4 and grimace. “Resurrection Denied
(Live)” and it’s the first track recorded live. Maybe Teratism
should record all their releases like this because you can actually
hear the instruments. The drums are mixed too loud (what? Is that
possible?!?) and there is more evidence that the vocalist is a
practicioner of the Satanic arts. What’s interesting about the
release is that they cropped out the crowd booing the band off the
stage at the end of the track.
Do you have any doubt how I feel about this band? This is
nothing against the band as Satanists, though I strongly disagree
in theory with what they believe. This has to do, rather with
releasing material that does nothing for the genre except prevent
me from listening to a good death band.