Well, just after talking about the reissue of album number two on these very pages the self professed ‘ugliest band in the world’ (who obviously have not checked out The Pogues lately) are back with their brand new release; number five ‘Out To Die.’ This time around Blasphemer is properly back in the fold and no doubt using this lot as the sort of fetid outlet that he is missing since his departure from Mayhem; Ave Inferi are far too nice and polite to scratch that itch. It has been a long time since last album ‘Hades Rise’ came out way back in 2008 and the time has been well spent no doubt both putting together this album as well as allowing more time for Aggressor to recover from his unfortunate hotel room plummet. Obviously time has been a great healer and we have seen him more active on stage. He limped on to play with Aura Noir at PSOA a few years ago and has also managed to get through some select Virus dates. With Aura Noir having been back in action as a proper live entity in 2011 we now get a few select dates to follow on the back of this release including London on the 24th May, hurrah.
As for the album itself it is a short sharp shock, honing in with razor sharp precision and delivering eight compact decrees of hate in just over the half hour mark. This of course gives those of us with short attention spans plenty of times for repeated plays and to wallow in all its filthy glory. Kicking off with ‘Trenches’ we are thrust into a gnarly sounding bombast with guitar and bass sounding like they are being scraped along an industrial cheese grater. It’s a rancid but excellently produced attack with every note flying out the speakers with perfect clarity at you. It sounds a bit more in the face than usual and to be honest with the grunting and spewed out vocals and slewed hellish melody if anything it sounds as though this could be the follow up album to the excellent ‘Necrosis’ by Cadaver. There is a solid battering fever about it and as the drums change direction and the tempo skids into ‘Fed To The Flames’ it is evident that the trio are really firing on all cylinders here. With the track title spat out and the vocals delivered as fast as the music it all cracks along snapping the neck of the listener into action. A delirious mid point guitar solo acts just as suggested, a pure unadulterated baptism of fire. One song finishes and the next kicks straight in, there is no time for filler at all and it would be interesting if they actually played it like this live and finished us off with a few classics. The new material certainly should not disappoint in the slightest. Maybe it is not best to go looking for great depth in the lyrics of the album but if you are a worshipper of the dark lord you will find plenty of comfort from the words in a song like ‘Abaddon.’
Finally after the first few numbers we slow down a little as the esoteric flames of ‘The Grin From The Gallows’ are lit. This is a moody and morbid sounding number but despite the lesser speed is just as vile and nasty. There are some odd effects played out on it too, adding to the decrepit atmosphere of the craggy delivery. More odd guitar effects add a sci-fi Voivodian scourge to ‘Priest’s Hellish Fold’ a grim sermon delivered maybe to mutants in a post apocalyptic world. The enraged yells and cries on Deathwish perfectly match the tight strimming guitar riffs and there is a great melody about the penultimate number. All too soon we end up at the last and title track which finishes things off with a chaotically fuelled welter of bruising drum blasts and grinding and winding riffs, perfect!
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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