Urgehal's debut ("Arma Christi") was an impressive offering of Darkthrone-esque vileness, so it was with great anticipation that I awaited their sophomore release, "Massive Terrestrial Strike". Would Urgehal be able to produce a second album as great as their first ? Would they continue along the same path of all things Darkthrone ? Would they firmly establish their place as one of the best bands in black metal today ? Imagine my surprise (and hesitation) when Malphas (the one who had initially exposed me to Urgehal) warned me that this CD wasn't quite up to snuff, and that the first song (in his own words) "blows". Well, I don't quite think "The Sodomizer" (the track in question here) actually performs fellatio, but it definitely wasn't a good track to lead the disc off with (or to end with, or to have on this period - it should have been scraped entirely IMHO). The music on said track is fine (tinged with a bit of the old school retro feel), but what makes it somewhat irritating are the awful vocals - they aren't done in the usual Urgehal style, but are sort of belched out in a juvenile way (it's hard to describe, but it sounds as if the vocalist is some teenage prat trying way too hard to be "evil" and failing miserably at it). Anyway, with that foulness now out of the way, I can say that the rest of this CD is quite excellent...not quite as good as the first CD, but very very close for the most part. While "Arma Christi" was more aggressive in feel, this one sounds a bit restrained - this makes its general tone darker in places, but also gives it less "UUMMPH" and it's therefore less likely to grab your attention as strongly as the first one did. There isn't really a whole hell of a lot of change from the debut, but there are subtle differences (meaning less of an obvious Darkthrone feel) that can be spotted if one listens for them.

There, that takes care of all of you who own "Arma Christi" - for those not familiar with Urgehal (tsk tsk tsk) and who don't seem to be able to pick up the not-so-subtle comparisons that I've made above, I'll say this : all the hype that was floating around this band when the debut was released is true - if there's one band out there that has the right to claim inheritance to the position of "the new Darkthrone", it would be Urgehal (think "A Blaze In The Northern Sky", but with less of a Celtic Frost/Hellhammer influence). Got the idea ? Good...

Final analysis : anyone who enjoyed "Arma Christi" will more than likely also enjoy "Massive Terrestrial Strike", but keep in mind that the first *is* the superior of the two and that you might be in for a bit of a let down depending on how high your expectations are. Anyone who didn't like "Arma Christi" will not be swayed by this CD and should therefore avoid it (although how one can NOT enjoy "Arma Christi" is beyond me)...

© 1999 chorazaim