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BONEHUNTER
Evil Triumphs Again

Hells Headbangers (2015)
Rating: 10/10

The promotional photo showing the band illuminated only by candle to a backdrop of encroaching trees suggested to me that Finnish trio Bonehunter was going to be some volatile old school death metal band.

Of course, appearances can be extremely deceptive because this bunch of reprobates are very much of the punky thrash premise, and Evil Triumphs Again is their debut offering. However, this is still very much metal of old school design; carved from the billowing black influences of wretched Bathory, instilling in the listener a sense of foreboding and primal fear.

As a quick introduction to such unearthly delights, Bonehunter formed in 2011 and after a trio of demos they released an EP in 2012 entitled Turn Up The Evil. The band then released a live cassette album (Devilive) the following year, before indulging themselves in a few split projects and in 2014 another EP called Sex & Necromancy. The band consists of vocalist / bassist Syphilitic Satanarchist, guitarist Witch Rider and drummer S.S. Penetrator, whose moniker makes him sound like an Ann Summers sex toy!

I was pleasantly surprised with this offering to the dark gods; Bonehunter serving up an unholy, rust-ridden black plague of an opus that is distinctly stuffy and evil and most certainly for fans of blasphemous old school metal, ranging from the aforementioned Bathory to old Sodom, Destruction, Kreator and the initial waves of ungodly black metal.

This is the sort of vile, primitive metal I often seek – eager to taste that corroded, metallic guitar sound which speeds along with high doses of distortion attached. These satanic curses and whips lash hard against the backdrop of a squalid bass and fast-paced, murky drum sound; all complementing one another like some wretched creation of Mendes and rounded off by that Quorthon (Bathory)-like bark and puke.

For the most part, Evil Triumphs Again is of that mid-80s nastiness; a time when production was limited and air thin as bands suffocated in the sickly gloom of their own impenetrable tumult. Indeed, with song titles such as ‘Acid Fuck’ and ‘Devil Metal Punks’ I started to think we were going to get some comical drunken thrash tirade. Thankfully I was wrong, because Bonehunter’s unnatural cacophony is a joy to behold if you’re a fan of primordial grimness where guitars are literally dripping peat in their dank quest for evil immortality.

The opening demonic incantation ‘Messier 666’ is a mere spooky introduction to the damp, embryonic guffaw known as ‘Black Shrine’, which transports us back to the stifled, lo-fi days of early Bathory. Stinking of mulch, the solo whines almost out of tune into the pitch darkness of that itchy, thorny riff; but it’s incredibly catchy all the same, bringing with it those vicious, yet understated horrid caterwauls.

The punkoid ‘Acid Fuck’ is a straight up speed metal frenzy, taking Motörhead and Venom but throwing them into Satan’s blender – the result being a horrifying, sped up mess of toxic drum clatters and Satanarchist’s cruel, whiplash vocals. Traditional metal is also injected in timely manner, the outfit of Hades galloping like some well dirtied hog. For sheer Satanic majesty though, then it has to be ‘Burning Skulls’ which takes the trophy; a despicable thrash assault that holds up the severed goat-head high and arches into the peat bog well armoured with lethal doses of hateful bass lashes and a simplistic wail of “Burning skulls! Burning skills!” amidst that intoxicating guitar slurry.

Just like classic Bathory, there’s a strong essence of the simple and downright evil. Nevertheless, Bonehunter do not merely come across as worshippers; instead, they have an authenticity which enables them to stand guard on Quorthon’s now vacant throne. There’s some truly brilliant punk ’n’ roll segments here – namely three-minutes or so into ‘Burning Skulls’ – while ‘Devil Metal Punks’ and ‘Symbol Of The Curse’ rape the ears with hammering, hissing percussion; the latter being the thorniest of the two and bringing with it a truer black metal hostility. Indeed, ‘Symbol Of The Curse’ is the album’s fastest tirade, although ‘Succubus’ is equally venomous; another pitch black barrage of snarling, yelping vocals and grim guitar spit.

Hell, these guys wouldn’t seem out of place on one of those old Speed Kills compilation albums which at the time offered up such frightening pleasures as Bathory, Slayer, Bulldozer, Possessed, Destruction, Voivod and Venom. And Bonehunter is very much of that ilk; a band genuinely violent by nature but able to hook the listener via slower, dank passages of doom, such as with the oozing malice of ‘Deviler’, while in another instance we are snared by the devilish speed of ‘Evil Triumphs Again’; the title track arguably to be heralded as the son of Bathory with its hellish speed and vocal racket.

Evil Triumphs Again is the best extreme metal album of the year so far, and one upon whom everyone else should be impaled upon. This is a superbly primeval debut that truly reeks of wickedness, the only fault being its cover design which does not even hint at the fizzing malice contained within. But put that aside, light a black candle, enter the pentagram and kneel in worship of the new kings of hell metal.

Neil Arnold

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