Power From Hell "The True Metal" CD (Bonustrack)

Track 9 Motorhaed cover

It is often said that this band is total Bathory worship, and this statement couldn't be any more true. Almost everything on this album sounds like Bathory's earlier recordings, namely the ones on the first "Scandinavian Metal Attack," only slightly faster.
The recording on this album is definitely demo quality. It literally sounds like they took an old boombox with a built-in mic, stuck it right next to the bass drum, and hit "REC." But this is not entirely bad. The snare drum and guitar riffs can still be heard rather clearly, and that's a big deal to me. Bottom line is that the bass drum sticks out more than anything in this recording but it doesn't drown out the rest of the instruments or vocals. Definite thumbs up there...
The vocals are not very clear and have a bit of and echo to them that is very reminiscent of Bathory's early recordings and Cronos' vocals from "Welcome To Hell." The voice is pretty much what you would expect from black metal, only they truly sound dark and menacing like Quorthon's early vocal style rather than the sounds of being anally raped by an elephant that you will find in other modern black metal vocalists. It's rare that I actually have complaints about the vocals in a band because I really don't give a shit about the words. I'm mainly concerned with the music. There are those rare occasions where I truly can't stand a vocalist, like Danny Filth or every Mayhem vocalist besides Dead for example, but this isn't it.
The guitar riffs are pretty simple here. There are very few chord manipulations, if any on this recording, so you wont find any pseudo-somber atmospheric bedroom black metal from this band, but instead just pure old school punk-type metal riffs. The solos aren't anything spectacular but they are played with taste and go with the music very well. Definitely not played by some schmuck that has no idea what he's doing and thinks he's playing for a bunch of people that don't know the difference. Not much more needs to be said about it. Thumbs up here, too.
The speed of the music isn't overwhelmingly fast or full of blast beats. While blast beats are not non-existent on this album, the songs are rarely faster than anything on Slayer's "Show No Mercy" or Bathory's self titled album.
My only complaint is that there's no real bass guitar to be heard.
All in all, this is album is definitely worth a listen or twelve. I gave the album a 96 just because I didn't want to sound like a 100% bent over fan boy. I really don't give a shit about grading an album like it's homework because if I like something I just like it and that's all there is to it. Power From Hell plays black metal the way it should have been played all along; raw, tough, and dark. If you have issues with album production then this one may not be for you. But there are shit albums out there **cough, Filipino Antichrist, cough** where the production is ten times worse that anything on this recording, and people actually claim to like that garbage (sorry to anyone reading this that likes that album, but I don't.) So even if you like a clean recording I still think this album surely deserves a chance, so long as you are looking for something that sounds old school. Hope this helps anybody interested in this band.

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