Unholy Primitive Nihilism

We have the sunny Balearic island of Majorca to thank for this half-hour of pestilence, a place more associated in my mind more with drunken British tourists than Satanic metal art. Perhaps Yskelgroth are capable of putting it on the map for altogether more necro reasons; Fronted by Dave Rotten, of the moderately noted death metal combo Avulsed and also owner of Xtreem Records, this is a primitive (not to mention unholy and nihilistic, of course) rampage through the black arts with a heavy death metal influence.

It reminds me a little of the excellent Temple of Baal at first, though it has less musclebound crushing power and instead is a little more feral. Both have a crunching, deathly approach to black metal packed with dense riffing that assaults you with brute force rather than speed or agility. Bludgeoning someone with a cricket bat, of course, can be just as deadly as besting them in a gentlemen's rapier duel, and some of the tunes here can boast a supreme savagery. Take the intense Apotheosis of Apostasy. A fast, screeching tremolo opening gives way to a death metal-influenced blast with rattlingly hyperactive drumming brought right to the fore. As happens fairly regularly throughout Unholy Primitive Nihilism this tends to shudder down into slower sections, where the guitar riffs seem either to grind to a halt on one oscillating tone whilst the drums clatter on at full tilt over the top, or else just collapse temporarily into a jarring mid-song halt. This can be a little frustrating if you feel black metal thrives on momentum.

There’s little space left for the lead guitar to really ignite this, which is a shame, because Vicente here has a particularly distinctive and abrasive style that I think could have lent the album a lot of character. Three minutes and five seconds into Blackest of Blackness everything suddenly drops out except for one sustained hideous, yowling guitar tone- just for a few moments. In its supreme ugliness this is a beautiful touch. Similarly on In Blood I Reign, we get hints of a screaming, dissonantly avant-garde lead solo itching to be unleashed.

All in all a pretty good release worthy of investigation for extreme metal fans. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, with some moments of supreme intensity and others where it’s easy to lose concentration- usually the space of a song will encompass stronger and weaker moments. Unholy, primitive and nihilistic? It ticks these boxes without ever seriously threatening to drag the listener kicking and screaming back to an age of wanton, blasphemous destruction.