Holy Death

The Knight, Death and the Devil

Fallen Angel/Luciforus Art Productions 2005

Holy Death is Polish black metal of extreme maliciousness.  Album opener Whispers of the Soul utters feral black metal bestiality in the vein of Return era Bathory.  Raw, primitive riffs and vocals as dry as a rotted corpse in the grave.  Mercurius does his best Quorthon impression as he shrieks out morbid messages from beyond the grave while thin guitars saw through atmospheric synths on Thunder of Revenge.  Dreamlike clean guitars and ghostly vocals create a chilling aura as The Battlefield begins but they eventually relinquish their control of the song to a merciless onslaught of unearthly black metal at a quickened pace and a heightened intensity that shatters the tranquil passages that preceded it.  Whereas Riding the Hellstorms unleashes a furious thrashing black metal assault that brings to mind Darkthrone's Under a Funeral Moon.  A mystical mood and eastern sensibilities bathe the initial section of Fallen Angel as clean guitars mimic a gypsy-esque feeling before a cryptic set of Bathory-esque riffs saw through the nocturnal soundscape.  Standing Under the Cross trembles with confident energy, cutting vocals and strong riffs flex their skeletal muscles under a blackened sky.  On Lucyfer thunder cracks while a sparse echoing guitar is poked by the fingers of Goolary, a somber and mournful atmosphere is shed like the rainfall that is sampled while a deep commanding voice creates a mood of dark, ritualistic wisdom.  The CD closes out with three cover songs; Call From the Grave (Bathory), Heat of Flame (Hellias), and Princess of the Dawn (Accept).  The album exudes a stylistic kinship with the primitive evilness of Bathory but expands on that sound by incorporating differing riffs, drum patterns and majestic atmospheres.  Holy Death is infused with armor of unholy morbidity and Satanic power and The Knight, Death and The Devil displays their full devilish majesty.