The Moselfranken Hellbangers return with a third full-length album, and yet again they serve up a great mix of classic Germanic thrash metal with black touches and great atmosphere. Offhand, I'd say that this one has even more of a dark edge to it than the previous album, Hellfire's Dominion. While Hellfire's Dominion sounded more wistful and somber, this one gets downright sinister.

Infernal's crazy-but-precise guitar riffing is firmly intact, and Tormentor's drumming again amazes by managing to flow perfectly with the guitar riffs and still keep up speed-wise. If there's a drastic change besides the overall darker mood, it's the vocals of frontman Okkulto. The vocals use much less of that 'black edge' to them and stay lower in pitch, sounding much more like old-school death/thrash vocals than the black shrieks he used on the first two albums. Recommended to all metalheads with two working ears, two working testicles, and a very flexible neck for maximum headbanging.

© 2003 lord vic