PANCHRYSIA / ICONOCLASM - The Ultimate Crescendo of Hell (SHIVER Records - CD 2006)
After I recently reviewed
Iconoclasm’s album “Iconoclastic Warfare” I tried to figure if I have some more
CDs from this Belgian band… And yes! I have found one more, which is their 2006
split with Panchrysia. Damn, I bought this so many years ago and probably
listened to it just couple of times before it got lost in the mess of CDs/LPs,
etc. Cool then than just like “Iconoclastic Warfare” I can also exhume this
split. And certainly I am happy even more when the music turns out to be so
damn awesome as what I can find on “The Ultimate Crescendo of Hell”! Yeah, both
bands did great job here, both deliver some truly awesome and devastating songs
and I just don’t know why have I forgot about this CD for so many years.
Mistake like that won’t happen again hehe… and as a redemption, I am writing
this review, as I just want to recommend you all this great stuff. Believe me,
there are some killer songs here!
“The Ultimate Crescendo of
Hell” starts with Panchrysia, which I remember by the name only, I can’t
remember hearing much music from them, except this split of corpse. Well, I
must say that Panchrysia is just excellent! Sure, they are totally infected by
Satyricon, but I love Satyricon, so maybe this is the reason why I also like
Panchrysia so much? Anyway, there are riffs, vocals, the atmosphere and song
structures, patterns, which really remind me the famous Norwegian band,
sometimes it’s almost on a verge of maybe not plagiarism, but well… let’s just
say that it’s really, really damn close. What makes Panchrysia music
interesting, despite this huge influence of Satyricon, is that they seem to be
more old school than the Norwegians are nowadays, the feeling of Panchrysia
music is darker and more obscure, also the production is cruder, there’re are
some great fast parts, like in the song called “The Ultimate Crescendo of Hell”…
So, generally Panchrysia nailed these songs perfectly for me, I love them a lot
and damn, if you like “Vulcano” LP then I can assure you that these Belgians
may interest you as well. Only the additional live track called “Angst” is something
I did not like, I always skip it when I listen to this CD, the rest are three
lengthy anthems of killer (modern) black metal. And I wonder if the style and
quality of “The Ultimate Crescendo of Hell” is the same also on some of their
full length albums? Damn, I must check them out!
As for Iconoclasm, they do not
disappoint either and deliver something I expected to hear, after getting
smashed by “Iconoclastic Warfare”. Five songs from them are pure, aggressive and
thrashing black metal pieces, filled with violent riffs, harsh vocals, old
school feeling and black metal atmosphere. I love how fast, insanely aggressive
and harsh the music of those Belgians is in such track “Hellmouth”, when it
sounds like all the hell got loose hehe, pure insanity - definitely the best
song of all, which Iconoclasm prepared for this split! And then we have
something like “Rebel of Hate”, which is more traditional, more old school and
damn classic sounding thrash / black metal, with a lot of influence from the
classic German thrash scene and such Kreator and Destruction. There are lots of
killer riffs, a total headbanger kind of metal and generally if you’re into
such Aura Noir, Nocturnal Breed, Witchmaster, maybe even Toxic Holocaust and so
on, then I can bet that you’ll like also Iconoclasm. Great band, indeed, but so
underestimated!
Uffff… You know what? I realize
that the metal scene has spat out thousands of demos, EPs, albums, splits
during past 30 or more years and it is simply impossible to know all of them. But
if I was to recommend you some unknown bands, which recorded truly killer songs
and maybe did a split CD, which is so bloody fantastic, then “The Ultimate
Crescendo of Hell” would be my recommendation. Wow, it is absolutely killer
stuff. Sure, both bands are different, maybe Iconoclasm would fit more suitably
to some Australian hordes or Aura Noir, but who cares… this is great CD. I am
so glad I dusted it off!
Standout tracks: “The Ultimate
Crescendo of Hell”, “Hellmouth”
Final rate: 80/100
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