Holy Death

Triumph of Evil?

Under the Sign of Garazel Productions 2003

This is a rerelease of the 1996 album from Poland's primal black metal institution, Holy Death which was originally released on Head Not Found but with a lot of mistakes.  These mistakes were corrected and two remastered versions were tacked on as bonus tracks.  But what about the music on Triumph of Evil?  It is ungodly darkness, pure in its glimmering evil.  The Journey begins the series of unholy conjurings.  The song is imbued with the morbid atmospheres of Worship Him era Samael as slow and sinister riffs collide with bombastic synths and captures the underground feeling of early second wave black metal.  The whole album sounds as if it were recorded in a crypt.  The horrors and violence of a medieval battle announce the sinister crawling of Without Mercy which moves forward at a stalking pace.  Xtians fall beneath deadly riffs which bear the hallmark of early Ungod and Bathory.  To The Christians calls out from the catacombs with an unearthly atmosphere of dust and darkness, a feeling of sacred and unholy rituals permeates the song.  The drums are as if the reanimated corpse were pounding on the walls to escape.  The clean guitar and moody synth that begin The Ultimate Sacrifice are an omen of impending darkness about to consume the listener. At times the cold riffs and powerful keys bring to mind early Satyricon or even the debut of Dimmu Borgir (in a good way).  The primitive pounding of Always Lonely recalls Samael at their eeriest moments, injecting the track with a sense of dread as the guitars claw the song.  A louder fuller sound is what you can expect on the remastered versions of The Journey and Without Mercy.  Holy Death's 1996 album is an album that creates an otherworldly atmosphere that embodies the Satanic spirit and abyssic majesty of true black metal.