Band:	Genghis Khan
Album:	Who Art In Hell
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	February 08, 2023
A review by:	nikarg

01. Our Father Who Art In Hell
02. The Messiah
03. Dracula
04. Physical Contact
05. Black Thunder
06. White City Woman
07. The End

Have you noticed how some modern albums intentionally sound as if they were recorded many years ago and were preserved in a time capsule, only to be released today? This kind of description often refers to new bands putting out music that attempts to revive a certain atmosphere and sound from the distant past. Who Art In Hell is actually an album from the distant past that only just got released.

Genghis Khan formed in Canada in the beginning of the ‘80s, when an English guitarist moved there and formed a group that would play the style that had just started to make waves in Great Britain. The band recorded their one and only full-length album at the Sounds Interchange studio in Toronto, where legends like Black Sabbath, KISS, and The Rolling Stones had recorded before. Shortly after, Genghis Khan disbanded, the tapes were left forgotten and only recently were excavated and restored. And this is how we have Who Art In Hell in our hands in 2023.

The album is lively and has this irresistible vintage sound, similar to the one of bands like Diamond Head, Angel Witch, Iron Maiden from the Di’Anno days, and Manilla Road. The fact that this (almost demo-sounding record) is so charming in 2023 just goes to show how diachronic traditional heavy metal is. Regarding individual tracks, as much as I love the short and punchy “Messiah” and “Physical Contact”, my favourite ones are the longer and more progressive cuts, “Dracula” and “The End”, because I feel that the band members are showing more of their skills and their ‘70s inspiration on those. Regardless, the whole album flows beautifully, without a single moment of dullness. At times, I thought that the vocals could be better, and couldn’t help imagining how fantastic this album would be with Satan’s Brian Ross behind the mic, for example, but in no way do the vocals harm the overall enjoyment. The guitars definitely stand out, and fans of classic metal will surely enjoy the riffs and the solos here.

Who Art In Hell is out with a superb cover art through Urbain Grandier Records, a label proclaiming dedication to “high-quality vinyl pressings of high-quality metal”, and aptly taking its name from a French Catholic priest who was burned at the stake after being convicted of witchcraft. It’s also available for streaming on Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple Music, so you have no excuse for not checking this out.