Bestial Warlust - Blood & Valour [1995]

After releasing one of the best extreme metal albums in Australia’s history, Bestial Warlust didn’t waste anytime sulking in their relative underground success down under. Instead they hit the studio the next year to create a follow-up to the masterpiece that was “Vengeance War Till Death.” The result was the equally diabolical sophomore record “Blood & Valour,” a record that will not disappoint fans of the band’s previous work, but will offend just about everyone else. With the departure of axe master KK Warslut and bassist Corpsemolester, it’s incredible to see how well this album came out. Less than a year later with two new members in the fold, but that is just a testament to how good Bestial Warlust is. 

Riff-wise, the songs on this album aren’t much different from those on the predecessor. There’s a lot of tremolo picking throughout, with the most notable flurries of rapid-riffage being on “…Till the End” and the insane “I, the Warrior.” “Legion of Wrath” is one hell of a headbanger, due to the awesome midpaced riffs that give the listener a breath of fresh air from the constant tremolos. The incredible instrumental “Within the Storm” features some of Bestial Warlust’s best riffs, as well as some of the best songwriting skills from this Aussie horde. “Prelude: Descention Hells Blood” is the most evil track in this band’s arsenal, right up there with “Satanic” from the debut. The song starts with a haunting clean intro and some wind sound effects, only for the serenity to cease once those heavy power chords hit and the wicked tremolos return. 

While I don’t find this record to be better than the band’s debut, there is one significant upgrade on “Blood & Valour.” The production. This music is still undeniably old-school and the production is still pretty shit compared to modern standards (then again, who would want to listen to pure savagery like this with modern production?), but all of the instruments sound so much clearer than they did back in ‘94. The drumming doesn’t take over the music, as the riffs are clearly heard despite Hellcunt’s relentless performance behind the kit. And Bloodstorm’s vocals are still in top form as he brings a violent and barbaric edge to the already brutal music. Bestial Warlust is one of the reasons why Australia’s scene is beyond amazing, and their influence is irrefutable because of classics like “Vengeance War Till Death” and “Blood & Valour.” 

Highlights

“Death Rides Out”

“…Till the End”

“I, the Warrior”

Final Rating

Awesome [8.7/10]

Sadistik Exekution – We Are Death… Fukk You! [1994]

“FUKKIN’ KAOS!!!” is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Australian death metal lunatics Sadistik Exekution. These Sydney mad men crafted some of the most chaotic, sick and disgusting sounding death metal ever played. It was loud, evil, abrasive, blackened and spastically chaotic. “We Are Death… Fukk You!” is the second full length, which came out in 1994.

SadEx were ahead of their time; utilizing the psychotic screams and shouts of vocalist Rok, to Rev. Kriss Hades’ insane guitar work, Dave Slaves’ mental bass lines and the ultra fast drumming, the band combines elements of death metal with black metal, grind and a few rare doom parts (see “Evoke War Vomit” for example) to produce some of the most intense and shockingly awesome music you will ever hear. 

Every song on “We Are Death…” is an absolute ripper, although some may be held back from their true potential by the production, which jumps around on each song, as this album was originally recorded as an EP but released as a full length with a few singles/demos/etc. chucked on to make up the extra time. The production issue, however, is the only real negative thing I have to say about “We Are Death…” and pointing out anything else would just be nitpicking, which doesn’t work when analyzing an album so chaotic and intense. I’ve chosen not to ramble on too much while writing this review because once you listen to the album, it speaks for itself with its’ straightforward approach.

Highlights:

Internal Klok

Electrokution

Evoke War Vomit

Final Rating:

Awesome 8/10

Bestial Warlust - Vengeance War Till Death [1994]

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]

Spear of Longinus – Domni Satnasi [1997]

Spear of Longinus is a band from Brisbane, Australia who classify themselves as “Nazi Occult Metal”. They’ve been sporadically active since 1993, having released 5 studio albums, 2 EP’s, 1 demo and 1 compilation album which consists of their debut demo and first EP. “Domni Satnasi” is their debut album which was released in 1997 surrounded by quite a bit of controversy due the bands lyrics and beliefs. These moral crusaders have no idea what they were missing out on, because “Domni Satnasi” is an absolutely killer old-school black/thrash album, sounding somewhere between Vomitor (who share members and ex-members with S.O.L.) and other Australian acts such as Urgrund and Gospel of the Horns.

Considering the rough as guts sound of the music, you’d be pretty surprised by the clean production on this record, of course it’s not considered “clean” by modern standards and is a bit “thin”, it fits the music perfectly and you can hear every instrument and, in my opinion, is the best production on any Spear of Longinus release.

The songs are generally fast-paced with a few slower and mid-paced sections that pop up at just the right moment and the guitar solos aren’t flashy or used in every song, but when they are, they fit the song well and don’t feel out of place. The drumming isn’t too varied and can get a bit boring at times, but the beats are used well and drive things along just fine. The bass follows the guitar, which again suits the music and it would just not work if he were to go and do his own thing. The vocals are mostly your standard blackened rasp but there’s a bit of range to them and they take on a death metal-ish tone at times.

I don’t really have a favourite track, but it’s pretty cool to hear the original version of “Devil’s Poison”, which was later used as a Vomitor song and album title, it’s also refreshing to hear lyrics about something as simple as stinky pussy among the other songs which focus on war, occultism, philosophy, esoteric themes, religion and National Socialism.

All in all this is a great album worthy of any old-school extreme metal diehards’ collection.

Highlights:
It’s a very consistent album so I’m not going to bother listing highlights. Lister can eat my shit.

Final Rating:
Awesome [8.5/10]

Deströyer 666 – Unchain the Wolves [1997]

‘allo ladies. It’s Vagabond from Witching Metal Webzine. I figured it’s about time I got around to posting something on here, so here’s my first review for Nightmare Reality.



Deströyer 666 is one of the first Australian extreme metal bands I got into, and still one of my all time favourite bands. “Unchain the Wolves” is their debut album which was released in 1997 and featured K.K. Warslut (Corpse Molestation, Bestial Warlust) on vocal and guitar duties, Ballistic Howtizer (Gospel of the Horns) on drums, Ian Shrapnel (Adorior, Razor of Occam) on guitars and Phil Gresik (Bestial Warlust, Hobbs’ Angel of Death, Mass Confusion, Long Voyage Back) on bass. It’s often (and rightly so) considered a classic album by fans.

Stylistically the songs are a mix of early black metal with melodic sensibilities a la Dissection and more straightforward blackened speed metal, definitely influenced by early Bathory. Lyrically, mainman K.K. focuses on subjects such as war, drinking, killing, fucking, blasphemy and nihilism. There’s plenty of variety to be found on “Unchain the Wolves” which can be noticed almost instantly with the huge difference in styles between the opening 10 minute epic “Genesis to Genocide” and the 4 minute thrashing anthem “Australian and Anti-Christ”. Every song on the album has its own flavour, with my favourites being the aforementioned first two tracks, “Satan’s Hammer”, “Tyranny” and the title track.

What else can I say about this album, really? It’s an absolute classic and my favourite Australian metal album. If you’re a fan of extreme metal at all and haven’t heard “Unchain the Wolves”, I suggest you stop what you’re doing right now and track down a copy. Seriously, stop reading this review right now and go buy it.

Highlights:
If you’re not hooked after hearing “Genesis to Genocide” then there’s really nothing I can do for you. But since Lister is a wanker and expects a highlights list, you should go look these up on youtube now:

“Australian and Antichrist”
“Satan’s Hammer”
“Tyranny”
“Unchain the Wolves”


Final Rating:
Legendary [10/10]