Black metal and grindcore. Two of my favorite genres of metal. Wait, what's that you say? There is a band which....COMBINES THESE????
Yes indeed, it is true. Blasphemy do just that on this release. And what a fucking take on the style do they pull off! This music is chaotic, raw, fast, unrelenting, and BRUTAL. Yes. Brutal. In every true sense of the word. No stupid moshcore riffs, no stupid pig squeals, no idiotic breakdowns. This is brutal as brutal is meant to be.
Though this release is fairly short, its sound and the conviction in the way songs are played makes it seem as if it were twice as long. The singer vomits lyrics forth as if he were puking out damned souls. Though the playing is not necessarily very tight, it makes up for that by being genuine and having an excellent assortment of riffs. Guitars grind along at breakneck speeds, and wail out solos which could raise the dead. Drumming is especially frantic, a frenetic sounding blast, though not being as overtly fast. The way all of the instruments mesh together makes the music sound barbaric, and I damned well love it.
What else is there to say? Blasphemy are legends within the black/"war" metal scene, with good reason. I actually happen to prefer this release to their previous, "Fallen Angel of Doom" (though that album is a monster indeed). They were playing (and practically invented) a new sound that only VON and Sarcofago before them had even touched upon. It still sounds fresh and exciting even as I am listening to it right now. Personal favorite tracks are "War Command", "Blasphemy", and "Atomic Nuclear Desolation".
If I was forced to name ONE thing dragging this album down, it would be all of the intros. They account for a decent chunk of the playing time. While I really do not mind them that much, I feel that the 5 minutes they take up could have been used to create more awesome grinding chaos.
But enough of my rambling. If you are into grindcore, old school extreme metal, raw black metal, or anything of the sort, you NEED this release. Acquire it by any means!
....Youre still here??? Get off your ass and get this album!
The title says it all - I love being wrong. Oh, wait, I should probably explain; a while ago, a friend and I were debating about which Blasphemy release was better - Gods of War, Fallen Angel of Doom or Blood Upon the Altar. He claimed that BUtA was the best, because it features the songs from debut album Fallen Angel of Doom but with a better production and with better performances. FAOD being possibly my favourite 90's BM album, I told him to fuck off. But then, I hadn't really bothered to listen to Blood... properly while - it just kind of 'existed' on the end of the CD of Gods of War, not doing much. More fool me.
Fast forward a little bit, when NWN/Osmose put out their vinyl reissue of Gods...and Blood Upon the Altar. I gave Gods a spin a fair few times, but still for some reason resisted listening to Blood. Don't get me wrong, I'd heard it a number of times before, but was for some reason so blinded by my nostalgia for FAOD that I didn't really 'take it in'. So, one day recently I decided to give it a proper chance. And it absolutely slays. The production - a demo! - is excellent; clear, solid, abrasive. The performances are top notch, although I have a feeling that the drumming is superior on the album. If you've only heard FAOD, you haven't really heard it. The rendition of 'Ritual' on this demo is truly incredible - the song is allowed to really shine, not buried beneath the over-loud vocals and drums on the album. 'Blasphemy' melts the listener's face off with it's intensity. Some of the leads are less dissonant and harsh in their nascent forms, but the depth and volume of the guitars compared to the album more than makes up for this. I could continue, but I think the message is clear.
I still love FAOD, because of the unique atmosphere that album has despite it's many faults. However, for the definitive Blasphemy experience, I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest that Blood Upon the Altar should be your first port of call.
