Pest is, at the moment, the main band of Horna vocalist Nazgul and possibly one of the most respected underground black metal acts in Finland. The whole material of this 7” is screaming ”respect in underground”. It’s far from the mainstream and yet it is very easy to like, in a nostalgic way.

The logo of Pest is decidedly away from the obscurity of most BM logos and is nearly alike to the logo of Possessed. Possessed is also alive in the music, though I would not declare it to be a main point of influence. The tunes exist in the mixed up area between old-school black metal, proto-black speed metal and 80’s death metal.

It’s quite ”fun”, with the old drunk/head-banging crunchy guitar grind and decidedly over-the-top lyrics (”the world torn apart, destroyed by black metal!”) and all-around adolescent atmosphere (female vocals imploring the demon to come and ”satisfy her aching cunt”). This all seems quite honest, but the intent feels un-pure, tainted by the retro-mania of reactivity to modern black metal whoredom.

Vocals are both growled and rasped. There are guitar solos and a catchy chorus at least in the B side song, ”Possessed Wolves’ Howling”. The drumming is not hyper-technical, but competent in the way it used to be with the spiked thrashers of the 80’s.

I might have given the impression that the music is fast but it’s not. The A side track ”Sabbath of Lust” could be called even doomy. It is rather concentrating on heaviness and feeling than speed.

It’s clear that this stuff has it’s audience. No surprises here.

© 1999 black hate