Hell Darkness

Rockin' Underground

Doomentia Records 2010

The debut album from Israel's Hell Darkness seems custom made for my ears and my soul.  The vocals are as rough as concrete and the riffs are as sharp as razors and the music is caught somewhere between old school black metal and street-tough anthems of traditional metal, not unlike say....modern Darkthrone or Salute.  The album opens with the shredder Blood Drinker.  Blunt riffs and blunter drum beats strike like a brick to the face as the song bashes forward.  At times I am reminded of Venom.  Straight-forward simplicity is the key on Elite Forces of Metal.  Hellhammer grooves as spliced together with Darkthrone-ish black metal coldness where the result is a black n' roll battering ram.  And then the melee really gets underway with the slow-motion neck snap of Brilliant Sin.  The catchiest riff belongs to the initial stage of As You Hate It and then some filthy Motorhead references kick in leaving you on the floor, spitting blood.  Up next is the swinging axe, Old Metal Riffs.  Haunting Hellhammer-isms plod along as the guitars strain and moan against the crashing cymbals.  Iron Thrash metal is exactly as it's name implies, hard as nails thrash with a grumbling drum beat and a feeling of the primitive harshness of early Germanic thrash.  The dark brutality of early Sodom echoes within each smashing riff.  Album closer, Against is pounding black n' roll played with old school force!  A Venom-meets-Bathory savagery courses through the song's veins while mournful leads arc across the driving main riff.  Heller's raw throat scrapings are perfectly suited to the black n' roll onslaught of the rest of the music.  An uncompromising attitude and a drive towards old school bluntness is what Rockin' Underground is all about.  Hell Darkness is as subtle as an iron hammer battering your skull and their homage to scene originators is heartfelt.  "Fuck Modern Metal" indeed!!!!