THT Productions brings us a CD...finally. A full length CD in a pretty nice looking insert by an extremely extreme Black Metal band called Armageddon Holocaust. Production quality here is very low, ala Horde type, but the music is seriously cutting edge. Yes the face of Christian black metal is changing and it's bands like this that are forging ahead.
12 tracks of self proclaimed "Apokalyptic Destruction Metal" that clocks in right at half an hour. Most of the drumming on this album is very repetitive, making me wonder if it's a drum machine or not. I've noticed from track to track the drumming patterns are indeed the same. The shrill sound would certainly imply a drum machine however. I also was interested because I didn't hear keyboards. Perhaps they are there, but got lost in a poor mix, but I didn't hear them.
The guitars are very creative. I really enjoyed going into the next song to find out what lead would next rear its brutal head from within the piles upon piles of extremely brutal and chaotic rhythms. Most of the rhythm is a bit lost in the poor production as the music blurs together quite frequently. Vocals are as sick as any black metal vocals you've heard, again taking the screechy horde style vocal approach. The drumming keeps everything tightly packed as blasts come screaming at you at a pace that's nothing short of break neck. Lyrically the band sings prophesied destruction and the endtimes. Put simply every single scripture reference comes from deep within Revelations! Take the song they named after the band "Armageddon Holocaust:"
Time to die, time to suffer
Black day for black emmisanes
In the midst of brutal war against the chosen
They will face the consuming fire
Extreme process of destruction
Global Nihilistic execution
Chaotic Armageddon Holocaust
They gathered for war only to die
Burn! Burn! Burn!
Hell awaits!
Burn! Burn! Burn!
Hell awaits!
Not to say there is no creativity, because the songs in fact range lyrically, but they do mostly deal with the impending doom to be faced by the unsaved as is evident by the song titles. Such as; Visions of a Coming Death, Signs of Death, Destroying the Destroyers, Doom of Babylon, Feasting Upon the Kings Corpses, Morbid Eternal Suffering, and more.
Cutting to the chase now, this music is for the SERIOUS black metal fan only. If you dig the music style of Kekal, can deal with the production quality of Horde (sometimes as low as the GRIM album even) then you are going to love this. Check out the THT Productions website for info.
7/10
Other coverage for this album
Art for the Ears 2000Reviewed by Marco PovervestDestruction Metal is what they call it themselves. Armageddon Holocaust appears to be a project of the combined forces of the Dark Doktor (from Bealiah) and the Dark Thriller, both from Indonesia. What they've made is an extreme black metal piece consisting of twelve tracks describing the darker moments of human history yet to come. The production by Jefray Arwadi (from Kekal) is…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by Orc-CleaverI had read a lot of Armageddon Holocaust reviews so I kind of knew what to expect when I got this. Besides Horde, there isn't a lot of good Christian black metal cds out there so I wanted to see how this measured up. "Apokalyptic Metal" is an accurate depiction of the music and lyrics. Very raw and nasty black metal in the vein of Dark Funeral, Horde and other old-school bands. Basically if you…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by NecRoSarXThis is probably for the serious black metal fans only. And when I say "black metal", I mean the classic shrill, bombastic guitar-and-drum attack melded with the spooky black metal shriek typical of Horde and Kekal. Which means, if you're into the diversity and artistic neo-black metal that Extol and Vaakevandring craft, then you might get a bit bored with Armageddon Holocaust. Anyway, the…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by GrindboyLet me start by saying that I'm glad I waited a bit to review this, because it has grown on me quite a bit since my first listen. While a long way from a black metal classic, this album is better than it sounds. The guitar sound on this disc is very thin, the drum machine is as annoying as possible, and just on the whole this is not a professional sounding recording. All that almost made me miss…Similar sounding releases
2002Old PathThe Coming of Eternal Dawn
2002KekalThe Painful Experience
1998Red Rum TranceRed Rum Trance
1997Flying Saucer AttackNew Lands
1996lovesliescrushingXuvetyn
Inner WarfareTumbal
