Ptahil

The Black Fire

Wraith Productions 2010

This three song demo EP of frothing black metal from American heretics Ptahil finds them once again dwelling in oceans of mood and atmosphere, yet this duo seem intent on raising the tempo and the intensity.  The first two tracks are Ptahil originals and the third track is an interpretation of Beherit's Gate of Nanna.  World Ablaze pulses with menace, jaws clenched as raw guitars and pulsing drums invoke primal visions.  The song boils to the point of exploding, yet never crests that pinnacle.  The title-track seethes with raw passion and a moody guitar riff as it opens, bass guitar painting a meaty canvas upon which heaps of blackness and apocalyptic ash are strewn.  And then suddenly at the 2:18 mark a focused thrash riffs thrusts from the darkness, the tempo has increased and the drums rumble.  The noxious fumes and pestilent riffs settle once again upon more atmospheric passages.  A beefier, more noise-ridden vision of Gate of Nanna hisses behind walls of washed out guitars.  The vocals dissolve from the expected rasps into deep mutterings and melancholic clean voices layered pompously upon one another as the final hails to Satan are uttered.  With the Black Fire, Ptahil has once again positioned themselves amongst the darkest of visionaries of the black metal arts.  Let obscurity reign!!!