Review by Xephyr for Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom.... (1990)
War Never Changes
Blasphemy's debut 1990 album dials up the violence and Death Metal influences to give the world one of the first tastes of what genre enthusiasts would call War Metal. The distinction is somewhat messy since the end product is so close to other more prominent genres including Black, Death, and Grind, but who am I to keep the Metal community from adding yet another subgenre to the already massive web. Fallen Angel of Doom.... is a turbulent and messy 30 minutes of horrifically produced guitar riffs with guttural Death Metal vocals, insanely fast drumming, and hardly any song composition whatsoever. Riffs, solos, growls, and overall musical ideas come and go as they please as the drums and vocals are pushed up in the mix, making the guitar and bass almost inaudible at times. Even the songs themselves are confused sometimes, with "Hording Of Evil Vengeance" and "Darkness Prevails" ending so abruptly and without reason that it's almost comical. Blasphemy were obviously going for something that was as furious and raw as possible, with their drummer working overtime on every single track and the barking but raspy vocals cutting through the mud of the other instruments.
Straight up War Metal has never really been for me, so I can't say I'm surprised that I feel like the beginning of the genre is just riddled with problems. Straight up aggression and violent sounding Metal has never been my thing, so I'm not able to enjoy the chaos as much as others might. I can say with confidence that Fallen Angel of Doom.... is easily one of the heaviest early Black Metal releases I've heard in terms of speed and overall disorder, but I can't appreciate it when most of the interesting elements are hidden under furious but sloppy drumming and vocals that are necessarily evil but tiresome sounding. I did have a soft spot for the drummer on the first half of the album since he's going absolutely nuts on his kit, but by the final few tracks it was just overwhelmingly extra. "Goddess Of Perversity" was an obvious standout for me which incorporates all of the good and the bad of this early War Metal genre into one neat 4 minute package.
Fallen Angel of Doom.... is an example of a very niche subgenre where the aspects that make it unique just aren't that interesting to me. The dropped power chords are hidden behind a maelstrom of pounding drums and cymbals, the songs have zero structure and interesting solos are cut off for seemingly no reason, and the raspy, barking vocals don't hold my interest for a mere 30 minutes. It's certainly an important release in the Black Metal timeline as creating something this heavy and violent back in 1990 is impressive, but it doesn't hold up for me.