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HELLISH
The Spectre Of Lonely Souls

Unspeakable Axe (2018)
Rating: 7/10

Lovin’ the album cover and it’s one that matches the foetid, rasping sound within. Hellish have been responsible for a snarling brand of black thrash since 2010, scurrying from the cracks of Santiago in Chile and originally scorching our skin with a few demo recordings, a live outing and an EP before 2016’s debut Grimoire emerged. The Spectre Of Lonely Souls continues its path into the ill-lit caverns, zipping with frenetic energy in true underground style.

Vocalist Necromancer is still searching in the gloom for throat lozenges as he rasps along to the hyper workouts of drummer Cristian León, who in 2014 gave up axe duties to patter the skins.

The album runs for just over 30 minutes and spits out nine whippersnapper tracks that straddle the barbaric line of, say, Darkthrone, Kreator, Destruction and Sodom. You know the sort of thing; lo-fi, evil, fast, rusty, throwback, intoxicating, zippy and pinched.

When on simpler trajectories the ratty ensemble drift into oily New Wave Of British Heavy Metal-styled musings, but when things get tetchy they become a maniacal gang whose compositions do tend to melt into one big flurry of caustic vibrations and scratchiness. However, Hellish does have a genuinely raw, street-wise snap to their gargles; not a great deal of imagination is required within this tunnel of biting winds as such roguish projections as ‘The Night’, ‘The Curse Upon Us’, ‘Only Death’ and ‘The Walker Of Shadows’ quickly become self-explanatory in their sooty and panic-stricken translations.

What I really like about this record is how each instrument is given its own space, rather than the whole thing becoming a discordant mess. The bass bubbles nicely and the guitars and drums remain gutter-level yet tight. The harshness of proceedings is not a surprise to the system, but this affair rattles along nicely, emitting a foul, evil air – especially with the longest cuts, ‘Souls Of Desolation’ and ‘Bloody Tales’, which express leather-clad maturity in their playing and overall atmosphere.

It’s still very much scrawny thrash but with a layer of foggy heaviness over the top, and yet everything works a treat within what could be deemed a restrictive framework. There are enough rowdy bursts and chaotic strikes here to please anyone with a rabid lust for old school stylings and venomous strikes. Hellish is finally finding its way, and bringing the Chilean extreme metal underground to a new audience that should feverishly lap up their secretions.

Neil Arnold

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