CoC : Chernobog - Nuclear Bloodbath : Review

Chernobog - _Nuclear Bloodbath_
(Unsung Heroes Records, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis (2 out of 10)

Although black metal is renowned for its ultra low budget bathroom production, "raw" and "primitive" releases, I haven't heard anything that quite matched the level of production (or more accurately, the lack thereof) on this album and I doubt if there is any album out there that has. Admittedly, this is actually a demo released as a proper album, so I guess one shouldn't expect too much -- but even so, I can easily say that this is the worst sounding demo I've ever heard. Fine, I hear you crying out, the production's terrible. I can handle that. Tell me about the music. Well, I can tell you that the album opens with a couple of arpeggiated chords. Beyond that I can't really say, as the production is so terrible that it pretty much renders this demo unlistenable. The production results in the vocals sounding like, say, Dani Filth on a cheapo tape deck with the volume turned up to full. Massive distortion to the point of indecipherability. Most of the time the drums sound like pneumatic drill -- unfortunately I'm not being figurative. The drumming really does sound like a pneumatic drill. And the guitars are buried under this mess of drums and vocals. Occasionally I can hear a decent riff struggling to the surface, but it is quickly overwhelmed by the drums. In fact, this album has to be deliberately underproduced to create such a raw sound -- I can't imagine a garage band recording anything in their, er, garage which could sound as bad as this.

Contact: UHR, Mark Vignati, 260 Overlook Dr, Covington, GA 30016, USA

(article published 12/4/2002)