ROSS BAY CULT ETERNAL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAZnHJ9-0EA

Blasphemy are one of many bands that people take an abject obsession to, going so far as to make embroidered bomber jackets with their art on them. I can't say I disagree with them. I bought the original Die Hard version of their reunion live set from NWN! Prod. (#33/666) when I was a kid. There's something nasty, evil, rudimentary, crude, and inherently foul about the sound of Blasphemy that you can't wash out of your mind. Maybe it's the military drum fills, the gross vocals, the fact that they held black masses in the catacombs of the probably haunted Ross Bay Cemetary up in Canada... they just have a vibe that hits the "repulsive metal" bone in people and makes them go apeshit over them. Currently I'm on a run of listening to them almost nonstop and I figured I'd talk about 'em. Fallen Angel of Doom is their least adept release, with some serious mistakes and a sense of looseness that somehow makes the feel of it even more insane. It's like Reek of Putrefaction by Carcass made by Satanic alcoholics, basically. The intros are a rare instance in metal: THEY ACTUALLY WORK! Providing lots of atmosphere and quite well done, they kind of sew the album together between tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpkcoWtKDj4

...and here we have the follow-up, the slightly tighter, more coherent Gods of War. The barbaric relentlessness is still in full effect but we lose the muddy production and (some of) the sloppy playing from the previous album. They skipped labels from the extremely dubious Wild Rags to the slightly less dubious JL America (they were based in Indianapolis, what do you expect) but with funding from the great Osmose Productions, who continue to pump out the greatest metal and, on occasion, hardcore punk ever. That pretty much sets the tone for the album really -- a step up, but more horizontal than vertical in nature, with songs recycled from their Blood Upon the Altar demo, which funny enough ended up being bonus tracks on most copies of the album, including this Youtube file. The demo is produced better than the debut (!) but the feel of the disgusting vocals and bass-heavy crunch is missing. Plus "Ritual" is slower. Take your pick.

Anyway, despite the fact that 300,000,000 bands have directly ripped them off, Blasphemy still has the ability to warm the cockles of an underground metal fan's heart years after their grave was raided. There really isn't any exception when it comes to an originator. And your band doesn't have members named Ace Gustapo Necrosleezer and Vaginal Commands or 3 Black Hearts of Damnation and Impurity either, or a black guitarist in a horribly racist scene who knocked out some asshole from Destroyer 666 when the guy asked "what's with the nigger". Blasphemy fuckin rules.