Gotta admit, between the black-on-black cover lettering, song titles like “Pentagram” and “Prince of Darkness” and an album title like that, I fully expected something a bit sillier than this actually is. What you get is their interpretation of “death punk,” which sounds like it’s culled from influences ranging from hardcore to metal to mid-period DC proto-emo to Samhain-inspired death rock. The songs can get a bit on the long side from time to time, but they do sound like they’re striving for their own patch of dirt in a very crowded underground, which is wholly commendable in these days when too many bands are prone to ape instead of draw influence. Not to imply that what’s here is shit, but I can easily see them growing from here into serious contenders if they keep pushing at the edges.
–jimmy (Drink Blood)