Aside from a few bands, Norway's black metal scene was and is utter shite which is something that the guys up north in Canada knew. Of course I'm speaking of the guys in Blasphemy who created the bestial masterpiece "Fallen Angel of Doom" which would spawn a slew of great bands (and a whole lot of craptacular bands as well) that emulated the band's more relentless black metal sound. Arguably the best band to follow Blasphemy and their vile sound would come from down under (Who would've thunk it?) in the form of Bestial Warlust, with the cheesy and hilarious stage names and everything. After releasing some demos under the moniker of Corpse Molestation, it was time to set fire to the extreme metal underground with their debut record "Vengeance War Till Death" which is quite possibly the greatest metal export from Australia and has easily one of the best album covers ever.
If you've heard "Fallen Angel of Doom" then you should know exactly what to expect on "Vengeance War Till Death," and the band wastes no time in letting the listener know what kind of filthy and spastic music is about to be unleashed as they open the album with the track "Bestial Warlust." A song that starts with some fast and random drumming accompanied by Bloodstorm's exclamation of "Bestial Warlust!" before erupting into an all-out assault upon the listener and their brain which is sure to be turned to mush once the record is over. The next song "Dweller of the Bottomless Pit" isn't much different than the first track and it almost reinforces that terrible stereotype that all war metal sounds exactly the same, but the next track "Satanic" is black metal in its finest form. This song is evil, heavy and entirely devastating as it starts off with some heavy powerchords accompanied by a tolling bell to further that dark and murky atmosphere.
One of the most common complaints that I've encountered when seeing discussions of this album is the drumming, which I immediately laugh at. The drumming here isn't extremely precise or even varied much, but there is no denying that the intensity from the kit throughout these seven songs from hell is such a vital part to the music. The riffs only come in two different varieties for the most part, they're either bursts of tremolo riffing like on the song "Storming Vengeance" which seems to be nothing but fast tremolo picking or they come in the heavier, midpaced variety, though they're not too slow thanks to Hellcunt's insane drumming. "Vengeance War Till Death" is definitely one of those records where you'll either love it or hate it as most of the tracks are similar in sound and leave pretty much the same impression. Whether or not that impression is a positive or negative one, doesn't matter because at the end of the day Bestial Warlust and their answer to Blasphemy with this album will continue to be one that is coveted by the metal underground for years to come.
Highlights
"Satanic"
"Heathens"
"Storming Vengeance"
Final Rating
Masterpiece [9.0/10]
