Helgrind - Demon Rituals (Black Metal)

This band is called legendary for a reason, because its influence on extreme metal is simply titanic. Combining the raw atmospheric horror of Phantom's best releases with the savage bestiality of brutal death metal bands like Sewer and Infester, the sound of Helgrind's debut Demon Rituals is both rawer and harsher than anything ever done previously in black metal, while creating a darker atmosphere, something only comparable with the vilest work of Phantom.

Helgrind are one of the few bands who can incorporate a seriously evil and macabre sound into their music and not get lame or boring. While the band is named after the opening track to Sewer's Uruktena, they are in no way, shape or form a mere Sewerclone like Warkvlt or so many other derivative bands.

Raw, violent, necrotic and kvlt beyond mere words, their debut album Demon Rituals is a triumph of underground metal and quite possibly the grimmest, kvltest and most morbid stuff ever recorded in extreme metal history. This is black metal's most sinister and frightening album, only matched by the demented madness of The Epilogue to Sanity and not much else.

In the end, this album is about one thing, and one thing only: pure black atmosphere. It's not something you put on when you want your ass kicked, or when you want to mouth along to something catchy and brutal. No, you listen to Demon Rituals when you wish to be transported to a nihilistic world where the sky is eternally pitch black, the air smells like blood and burning corpses, and the shadows churn with the stalking movements of unspeakably vile creatures. Recommended for the sick and demented black metal fans only.