Azaghal "Helvetin yhdeksän piiriä" Cassette

Hammerbund 2018 Pro-tape edition limited to 100 copies

Comes on pro tape with pro cover.
The album's title is "The Nine Circles of Hell" translated into English from Finnish.

From the first track of this CD you can tell it is something special, amazing guitar and drum work and good harsh vocals await, I had been waiting for this CD for a long time, I was not dissapointed.
Track one is full on black metal but quite short, I guess in order to wet your appitite, and it does just that! Harsh vocals are superb!
The next track starts suddenlly with what sounds like a pained scream, leading into another with heavy guitar and drums, my only problem here is how hard it is to hear the bass. After these screams some melody comes into it playing in the background and giving it an edge.
Track three starts with a great bass line, soon being joined by drums then vocals and guitar, with many tempo changes, stops and starts this is a varied but none-the-less enjoyable track.
Track four starts very quikly and continues this way. A true onslaught which only slows for what sounds like a small guitar solo, however it is very soft compared to the rest, the song starts again though and continues with such momentum that you wonder how they an top it.
And with the arrival of trak five you find out how they can, very fast shrieking vocals alternate with harsh vocals and beautifull drum work to create a very memorable listen.
Track six rolls in with a nice little fill straight into fast, finger slashing guitar work and ear drum bursting vocals, (All in a good way of course), this track gets most of its power from a melody which acts as a counter melody to the fast, screaming black metal.
Track seven starts with what may be a synth intro, but soons screams into medium paced black metal, however soon the tempo rises as do the vocalists screams, one of the less enjoyable tracks, but still quite well placed.
The next track starts with almost the same synth part, it sinks into quite medium paced black metal again this time it stays at this pace only speeding up slightly for drum fills.
Now unfortunatly we come to the end of our journy, this tracks starts with a low sound like a war horn or many tubas, lightning an be heard striking then several samples play and the process repeats, and repeats again, then it goes silent the last track was simply samples, but it was haunting and fit the bill.
Overall although this album is relativly fast blak metal it manages to keep all songs sounding different and has much appeal, well recomended.

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