Second Coming, Second Crucifixion

Omega is the perfect band for those people that were put off by Venom’s cerebral streak. This is basically black metal fused with thrash, but that description will be wildly misleading unless you bear in mind that this is the black metal of the 1982 album of that name, rather than of Burzum or Emperor. Second Coming, Second Crucifxion is a rock and roll album drawing on the classics (apart from Venom, Motorhead’s shadow also looms large) but with the occasional blast of icy air which we shall come to below. Despite the necro aesthetics of the artwork and the Satanic title, the lyrics are generally beer-themed, and make Tankard look like the most professorial of wordsmiths. They have a song called “Big Beer for Big Nuts”.

It is incredibly stupid and simplistic music. Singer Hades has a theatrical bellow which straddles Cronos and Nocturno Culto, and this is just as well because they rely on him to generate a lot of the character. Otherwise, the crackling, buzzing guitar sound is stripped right down with such a quiet bass end- it reminds me of a Toxic Holocaust track if only rhythm guitar, drums and vocals were recorded. There are precious few lead parts adding colour. This all makes the sound feel so linear and dry- perhaps a lot like Hellhammer but with more conservative drumming and more conventional rock n roll riff shapes. At their best, the guitar tend to have a galloping and thrashy NWOBHM feel to them as on the aforementioned Big Beer…, which has a blasphemously catchy set of riffs to accompany its drunken-oaf vocals. It also has a solo, which helps to ignite a bit more of a party atmosphere to match the words.

Darker moments of black metal bile do seep through, and actually work very well at times. Closer Hail to the Cultfeels like a Darkthrone tribute, with a punkish groove giving way to some hoarse-voiced tremolo blasting, which ends the album on a pleasingly sour note. Black Metal Rust is a curious track, with their oh-so minimalist sound becoming surprisingly effective when delivering some really ugly blackened thrash riffs reminiscent of someone like Aura Noir.

This is an album which scratches an itch. It is defiantly old-fashioned in quite a pure way: it isn’t a polished attempt at recreating underproduced and primitive early-80s grime. No, the primitive underproduction here is entirely genuine. It’s a relief that it’s quite a short album, undoubtedly, because it is repetitive and completely devoid of any depth. Still, it’s not entirely unenjoyable.