CoC : Bestial Warlust - Blood & Valor : Review

Bestial Warlust - _Blood & Valor_
(Cargo Records, 1995)
by: Gino Filicetti (6 out of 10)

Herein lies ANOTHER CD which came to me bio-less. Arrrrggh! This must be the one pet peeve that peeves me the most, but as always, great writing must prevail (so then why the hell are you reading CoC?! :) The album starts off with the title track, "Blood & Valor". The intro to this song brings to mind Slayer, back in the good ol' days of _Hell Awaits_. The music then rapidly progresses into a barrage of black metal acoustical agony. This trend is maintained for the better part of the album, which in my opinion makes this CD seem stagnant and one-sided. The vocals on this album are not the usual ultra-high frequency yelpings that accompany most black metal releases. They tend to be a bit more listenable, but lack the agony and pain of true black metal. One somewhat unique feature to almost EVERY song on this disc is the use of lead work. Solos abound left, right and centre here, and never seem out of place. The tie for my favorite track is between the instrumental, five minute epic, "Within The Storm" and "Legion of Wrath", a song that tries to break away from the blast beat noise that is present on all the other tracks, and also possesses a good heavy element of grind to it. All in all, this album pleased me for the first five minutes, but to someone 'truer' than myself, it could be considered a masterpiece.

(article published 9/2/1996)