Principality Of Hell - Fire & Brimstone - review
Principality Of Hell - Fire & Brimstone - review
Tracklist
01. Fire & Brimstone02. Codex Inferno
03. The Bleeding Nun
04. We Ride At Night
05. Leviathan
06. The Witches' Coven
07. Hellfire Legions
08. The 9th Seal
09. The Hand Of The Hangman
10. Strike Of The Beast [Exodus cover]
A review by
ScreamingSteelUS December 04, 2014
Each member of this Greek trio is a veteran of other black metal projects, frontman Magus in particular being a founding member of Necromantia and Thou Art Lord, with a stint in Rotting Christ under his belt. In fact, they are all members of Thou Art Lord, as of 2012. That band's strong thrash elements make it the most spiritually similar to Principality Of Hell, who describe themselves as "black metal the old school way" and "black thrash metal of the glorious years."
Your first thought at this point should be "Venom." If not, it is now, because they have certainly captured the essence of Venom: the low production values, the uneven songwriting, the almost-cheesy sounds of Motörhead being fed through a shredder? I mean that in an endearing way, of course. Principality Of Hell might be rough around the edges (and everywhere else), but that's largely the point. The highly Venom-esque title track, followed by the Celtic Frost homage "Codex Inferno," provide an accurate indication of where this trio comes from.
Of course, operating in a post-thrash world, Principality Of Hell have the benefit of harder, faster, and heavier influences to draw on than Venom, and you will hear as much early Sepultura and Sodom as the aforementioned innovators. The Exodus cover with which Fire & Brimstone signs off drives the point home - this is more of a thrash album than anything else. Crucially, they have also deftly captured the rock and roll aggression and punk musical sensibilities of their predecessors, with elements of more recognizable black metal mixed into songs like "The Bleeding Nun" for good measure.
So Principality Of Hell isn't terribly original, and Fire & Brimstone isn't exactly earth-shattering; it's still some fast, raw, and aggressive music, and it's recognizably "black metal the old school way," so they haven't lied to you. Although the opening song is probably the best one on the album, "The Witches' Coven," "Leviathan," and "Codex Inferno" are in particular quite enjoyable.
Well, I'm off to get started on my new bands, Margraviate of Tartarus, Viscountcy of Detroit, and Eight-by-Ten-Foot Subinfeudated Allodium of That Parking Space Over There. Beneventan chant the old school way.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 3 |
| Production: | 6 |
Written on 04.12.2014 by
Written on 04.12.2014 by
Dull Music for Dull People Comments
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Posts: 6705 Written by Ilham on 05.12.2014 at 00:06 Thank you. That is all.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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Awsome review! You guys all do a good job on this site I think. How do you get to the point of classifying and describing these albums like you do? Are you all musicians? I'd love to review music like this, but I don't have the knowledge to back it up and I've been deeply entrenched in metal for years. Maybe I'm just not smart enough eh?
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Posts: 6705 Written by barnesy on 05.12.2014 at 16:42 Thanks for the kind words. I am a musician myself, as are some of the other reviewers here, and that does come in handy sometimes, but what really helps the most is practice. This review is the product of four years' and over a hundred reviews' worth of practice, and I'm still always finding ways in which I could stand to do better, usually as soon as I've published the things. Many of my early reviews, which I encourage you not to read, are rather embarrassing, and so are many of my reviews since then, depending on whom you ask. Everyone has a learning curve. If you want to write reviews, then all you have to do is start writing. Read lots of reviews, inundate yourself with music so you can build up a good context, but mostly just practice writing. Eventually you start to get a feel for what you want your review to say, how you could best get your point across, what sort of comparisons you can draw, etc. I'm no expert, of course, but I do think that the best way to improve, as with many things, is to simply repeat the process. I've made it this far, so clearly it doesn't take a genius.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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Posts: 6941
"Principality Of Hell." That's a new one. Well, I suppose "Hel," "Hell," "The Hell," "Ov Hell," and just about all the rest are already taken. Welcome to (the principality of) hell.  THAT's fucking funny!!!!!
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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Posts: 6705 Written by Susan on 06.12.2014 at 05:14 
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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