The Wine of Satan is a compilation released by Cyprus’ Necroterror Records. It was released back in 2008 and in 2012 it stands out for its variety in sound as much as for its variation in quality.
I really don’t know what the fuck has happened to once Czech masters Root. On “Sonata of the Chosen One”, the quintet sounds like a confused power metal band that just swallowed too much Camembert. Taken from their eight full-length Daemon Viam Invenient, the cut sounds like it should have been released by one of the generic melodic death metal bands that inhabit the roster of Nuclear Blast. Keeping in mind the level of quality exposed in their latest Heritage of Satan, it is obvious that Root are in a downward spiral in terms of quality. Quasi operatic vocals, metalcorish tinges, 80’s riffage from a second rate group= yikes.
More up for the fight are Bestial Mockery, the recently revived show with “Attack of the Morbid Coven” a clawy and punkified black metal cut recorded specifically for this compilation. Such effort is appreciated, as the band barrels down with a tsunami of sloppy brown notes and an attitude so menacing the disco that contains it is growing nails. Irreverent’s “Infernal Entity” is taken from their 1992 demo Crush the Messiah. As expected, we are talking super primitive stuff, not only musically but the sound itself is boombox at a distance quality. No high end on sight. But that’s how shit rolled back in the day.
Hell Militia’s “Ultimate Deception” sounds upscale in contrast. The French quartet is formed by lifers whose resumes include over sixteen bands. Exclusively recorded for this compilation, the cut doesn’t go beyond the quality levels exposed in their debut Canonisation of the Soul Spirit or in Last Station on the Road to Death. Some of the textures in the slow parts are great, but there is something rock and roll lame about this song, perhaps a desire to break free from the conventions of the genre. Goes to prove that sometimes is better to draw within the lines. More robust and solid is the material from Greece’s The One. It’s a single-minded one idea take on the genre, meaning the song is one solid chunk of blasting drums and mindfucking guitars. That is, if one can actually make up the riffs and whatever else is going on in there. The song goes to outer space towards the end and it falls into an entrancing rhythm. Awesome stuff.
Funeral Winds have the biggest sound of the bunch. Their guitar attack is a thick and solid wall of sound and their speedy delivery is quite dynamic. Their cut is titled “The King of Tyre” and is most likely not about rubber or wheels, but about something substantially more necro. As a whole though, Funeral Winds prove to be the most conventional of the bunch. Furze sounds like what it is, one weirdo artist, banging it out in his head and fleshing it out in the bedroom. “Baphomet Wade” was recorded in 1999, during the demo tracking for his first full-length Trident Autocrat. In it, the drums are caustic, the guitar playing is pedestrian and the vocals are in part quite hilarious. There is some sophistication in his ideas though. The artist, one Woe J Reaper, structures the songs in exponential ways, with riffs that develop and slowly open up into a consistent tempo.
The Wine of Satan closes with Code’s re-recording of their Neurotransmissions demo cut “Pollen of Black Plume”. Per the contents of this comp, it sounds like state of the art blasphemy as it features impeccable blast beats, sweeping guitars and frosty vocals. All delivered with the confident of high priests. This one sealing the proceedings and going to show that black metal, like the devil, takes many forms and can - but not always - succeed in all.
Necroterror Site
Written by Ignacio Brown
