Trinity in Black is Unpure's first full-length album with a new, thrashier sound that's reminiscent of Bathory and Hellhammer. There was already a lot of Bathory and Hellhammer worship on their self-titled album and Coldland, but these two albums were just mediocre second wave black metal, while this album is a great attempt at first wave revival with some NWOBHM sprinkled in. There are still lots of second wave influence, though, especially in the first part of "Betrayers of the Black Art", which reminds me of Aura Noir or even Darkthrone with thrashy guitars, and the blasting beginning of "Warrior Seed". But still, this album is mainly fast, primitive and neck-breaking black/thrash, with exceptions being the aforementioned "Betrayers of the Black Art", "Foolspell", which probably fits the definition of "Iron Maiden with laryngitis" better than any Gothenburg melodeath song and "Pain Within", which is a similarly bare-bones doom metal track based around one riff and a chorus.
The highlight of the music is the guitarwork, which borrows more from old school thrash than from black metal, with simple and catchy but effective riffs and an occasional solo. The rhythm section, on the other hand, is nothing to write home about. The drums do little more than keep the beat, although they've got enough variety not to become boring, and the bass is barely audible, which is normal for thrash and black metal, and can only be clearly heard in the pointless instrumental part around the 2 minute mark of "Foolspell". The vocals are similarly mediocre, being a pretty low-pitched black metal rasp that gets annoying towards the end of the album, again, with some exceptions. On "The 3rd Call", which is the thrashiest track on the album, the vocals remind me of Cronos and Tom G. Warrior, and on "Pain Within" there are clean (if a bit over-processed) vocals which wouldn't seem out of place on a stoner/sludge metal song. Nevertheless, all of the vocal approaches suit the accompanying music very well.
Now the best part of this album is probably the production. It's very clear, but with a raw edge, emphasizing the thrashy parts better than the black metal ones and adding to the general "old school" sound. The only turn-off is perhaps the sound of the snare drum, which is similar to that on Bathory's Blood on Ice album, but not as loud and reverberated. There's also a lot of silly samples and one track ("The Final Call") which is a short and noisy interlude.
In conclusion, this album is 44 minutes of highly enjoyable and a tad upbeat black/thrash metal (and a silly interlude), but it doesn't bring anything new to the table. But then, black/thrash metal isn't all about originality, so that shouldn't be a problem for fans of the genre. Recommended for everyone who likes the thrash side of black/thrash metal.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=761t-q07Ze0&list=PLvSSm2CURA2ky2e0nLfVUCSQubeAVUeEG&index=5
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=Vl0akeMeVBk&list=PLvSSm2CURA2ky2e0nLfVUCSQubeAVUeEG
