Urgehal

Unless you’re caught in the nobleness of the statement that "real black metal is underground because it’s too harsh and ugly to be swallowed by a big audience” it’s immediately obvious Urgehal’s music doesn’t matter. Songs like "Raise the Symbols of Satan,” "Mirror Satan” and "Supreme Blasphemy” are the same droning garble that’s been excreted from a wide variety untalented hacks for years; you’ve heard this album a million times. (If you’re interested in real black metal pick up Emperor’s Equilibrium) What’s notable here is the image they’re trying to convey. The cover features Enzifer (the guy with the nails coming out of his corpse paint) holding the bloody, half naked corpse of a woman in a cemetery. Trondr Nefas ("666 lead string of hell spawn devastation and necrovoice of blasphemy”), Sregroth ("sodomising bass-strings of death”) and the simple Uruz ("Warbattery”) are all posed within the liner notes as prime examples of certain things that can go wrong in music. The vanity and sheer ridiculousness of corpse paint makes anyone wearing it look like an idiot. They’re setting themselves up a bunch of carnival clowns. Who actually thinks corpse paint is really evil and satanic? Could Southern Lord actually profit from this? Just imagine how annoying everyday life would be if a "big audience” were to swallow up this kind of shit.