NME

Heavy metal/punk fusion that is inevitably compared to Venom because of its stadium rock dynamics, punk pacing and simple but heavy riffs.

NME - Unholy Death (2000)

Unholy Death

MP3.COM

2000

Production: Barely.

Review: In the case of a band where one influence so outweighs the rest as to be immediately evident it is fair to mention that before defining the band, and here the influence is Venom-style heavy metal rendered in a more punkish form with even simpler, less rock-literate riffs than even the masters. Infectiously simple rhythms and punk influenced song structure with layers and breakdowns form the staggered intervals of introduction across which circular patterns match alignment at oblique angles to provide space for vast shift and change. Delivering songs through a more punkish passage of circle than the conclusive deconstruction in unravelling that metal bands provided, NME make full circuit between nothingness and infinity in grinding simplistic songs with shouted, growled, hoarse lungless hurling pacing them toward simple conclusions.

Tracklist:

1. Of Hell/Thunder Breaks Peace (2:12)
2. Louder Than Hell (2:12)
3. Black Knight (2:53)
4. Evil Dead (2:29)
5. Speed Kilz (1:52)
6. Stormwarning/Blood & Souls (3:12)
7. Decadent Mayhem/Unspeakable (4:48)
8. Brick Wall (2:11)
9. Warrior (3:57)
10. Lethal Dose (2:27)
11. Acid Reign (3:49)
Length: 32:08

Use of straight hardcore riffs alongside metal-influenced but not modally pentatonic playing gives this band the freedom to make either hypnotically simple tonal continuance or leaps beyond the chromatic for periodic emphasis on structure, yet the essence of this playing is the raw rhythm and relative motion in these riffs that gives a shape to the forward inertia flung out in primitive and brain-maulingly simple pieces. Dissident music in excessive and reductivist minimalism, this release celebrates the primitive and unleashed in the slumbering rune-caster of the soul.