Ampütator / Baphomets Horns ‎"Satanic Forcefucked Annihilation" Split CD

The audio introduccion in track 1 and audio outro in track 7 (the Ampütator side) are audio clips taken from the Columbine massacre.

So I have Ampütator's self-titled demo and their debut full-length and have equally lukewarm opinions on each of them; I then get this, one of their interim releases, with the full expectation of finding it just as mediocre as the rest of their shit, and I end up liking it a fair amount. Life has an ironic way about it sometimes. Oh yeah and there's a band called Baphomets Horns which is also on this but no one cares because everyone just buys this for Ampütator anyway.
The primary thing that makes Ampütator's side on this split so much better than their other releases is a matter of variation; other Ampütator releases have an amazing tendency to sound like they were made precisely to fit the aesthetic of this particular variety of black metal, but the material on 'Satanic Forcefucked Annihilation' sounds considerably more natural for some reason or another. Certainly the formula is as intact as ever: swift and thrashing songs (with drumming that for the first time ever seems natural rather than machine-driven) laced with almost absurdly biting black/thrash riffs and sneering, declarative vocals. The production of this CD even seems a lot more natural and less precisely engineered to seem abrasive.
There's a lot of nice moments in these songs that make Ampütator out to be an actual, you know, band rather than an obsessively detailed aping of black/thrash conventions. The melodic section at the end of 'When Your Children Burn' alone is more genuine and interesting than anything else in the band's career. But on top of the more unique moments like that, even the more conventional work is more solid; the chainsaw black/thrash riffs have actual attitude behind them, not just the mere appearance of it, and the songs are compact and listenable without getting too dry. This is actually the best material I've heard yet from Ampütator, and while I still wouldn't admit them to the circle of my favorite extreme metal bands, it certainly points to them having significantly more potential than I originally attributed to them.
Baphomets Horns also plays a somewhat thrashy breed of black metal, but a less war-oriented style and more traditionally USBM in design. Fast blasting and demonic tremolo riffs dominate the musical spectrum while screeching vocals soar over the top. Tempo and rhythms are relatively varied and carried by a surprisingly rich, fill-laden drum performance, bolstered by the chaotic, slightly claustrophobic production which forces all the instruments into each other in a surprisingly pleasing manner. While the music is generally raw and Satanic in nature, the band tosses in a curveball in the form of a melodic section from time to time, and they're very well employed; the passage midway through 'Judeo Genocide' really takes the listener by surprise and is tucked in just the right place for the song.
Weirdly enough, the riffs are probably the weakest parts of Baphomets Horns, which would typically signal the death knell for just about any black metal band, but the quality of the drumming, vocals, and overall song structures is high enough to carry the weaker moments of riffcraft. They're not bad, just generally unmemorable save the melodic passages, and many seem to essentially be filler without a tremendous amount of weight behind them. With this even slightly improved, though, I could see Baphomets Horns being in regular rotation with my CD player very quickly. Their side of 'Satanic Forcefucked Annihilation' is certainly a strong introductory volley from the band and worth investigation from underground black metal fans.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this disc; Ampütator had let me down more than once in the past and Baphomets Horns doing a split with them didn't give them much promise from me. I was happy to be proven wrong, though: both sides of this split are worthwhile for underground black metal fans, and are definitely solid and interesting slabs of black metal in their own right. Although this isn't an essential release, it's worth a look at the very least.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...