(Black Metal) HORDE OF HEL - Doden Nalkas album review

Attention all violent black metal devotees, you now have another album to add to your wish list of over-the-top aural aggression. Doden Nalkas from Sweden's Horde Of Hel will scratch that violent itch more than nicely, as it contains the requisite full throttle, unrepentant blackened attack of the form. Hell, the drum battery alone with appease fans, given that it sounds like endless machine gun fire being unleashed on our heads.

This being the band's third album since 2009, these veterans know and follow the rules of the blackened game, but also add in some different elements for variety, similar to brothers-in-arms Marduk's use of martial sections. Horde Of Hel instead introduce interesting chiming bells and backing keys on "Visdoman Kalls doden" , go mid-tempo-kinda-melodic for much of "Totalitarian Regime", and add their own martial/industrial/choral elements here and there. It breaks up the mortar attack long enough so that the listener can gain his/her bearings so they can prepare for the next round from above (or is that from below?).

Speaking of Marduk, Horde Of Hel's vocalist Sanctvs shares the same strangled vocal approach at the mic as Mortuus, perfectly suiting the Hell-on-Earth instrumental onslaught found here. Approach with caution. (8)