Review by Sonny for Bestial Warlust - Blood & Valour (1995)

Fuck grindcore, deathgrind and brutal death metal. Playing with dismembered body parts and brutalising women, what the fuck's that all about?! No, when real men want to get extreme, then they go to WAR!!

But seriously folks, I don't generally care for super-extreme death metal. Apart from the music not greatly appealing to me, I sometimes find the whole aesthetic around extreme death metal and grind problematic. Of course, I completely understand that it's depictions of gore and sexualised violence are not to be taken seriously but they just don't appeal to me at all. War Metal, however, is just so fucking insane it's impossible (for me) not to get sucked into it's madness. Being derived from Black Metal rather than Death metal (although it certainly has Death Metal influences) makes it more palatable to me as well, as I am much more inclined to BM than it's deathly cousin. I also find the predominantly black, white and red aesthetic of the hand-drawn artwork much more appealing than the graphic nature of a lot of the more gory death metal covers. Naturally, as with any extreme genre, it isn't for everyone (or even most people) but there is something about the cacophonous nature of war metal that I really love.

Now I'm not trying to come across like some trve kvltist - I am mostly only familiar with the more established War Metal acts like Blasphemy, Beherit, Archgoat and more recently Crurifragium and Antichrist Siege Machine, but I had really enjoyed Bestial Warlust's debut, Vengeance War 'Till Death when I heard it a few years back. However, it is only now, more than twenty-five years after it's release, that I have got round to the Aussie warmongers' follow-up, Blood & Valour which has acquired the distinction of being my first five-star-rated War Metal album.

The Spanish film Intacto (great movie) has an opening scene where several people are running full pelt through a forest blindfolded. When I first heard Blood & Valour I had a sensation akin to how I think those people must have been feeling, of hurtling headlong at breakneck speed just waiting to be smacked in the face by a fucking huge piece of wood! Indeed on the first couple of listens it does sound a bit like uncontrolled chaos, but when you start to really listen to it properly then BW are revealed to be a really tight outfit and this is one hell of an accomplished album of sonic brutality. There are some fantastic, exhilarating riffs that remain defined and varied and are not just bludgeoning rehashes of the same idea over and over. The vocals are suitable demonic with shrieks and growls that come from the charnel pits of hell, but the drumming of Marcus Hellcunt (not his real surname I think) are what keep drawing me back, his assault and battery as blastbeat follows blastbeat is a thing of wonder to behold.

This is one of the most savage and visceral of black metal releases, at times it sounds like someone took a vinyl copy of Reign in Blood and played it at 45 rpm, complete with Jeff Hannemann-like squealing guitar solos, with songs slashing by like flailing sabre cuts. Possibly one of the most enervating albums it has ever been my good fortune to hear. If you love extreme black metal then you really need to listen to Blood & Valour.