I have admired these German black speed punks for a while, they have two tape releases and their first tape ‘Black Leather Hounds’ laid down the blueprint. From the description, you can guess what they sound like right? Take all the hallmarks of early Teutonic thrash (Sodom/Kreator), more recent bands like Bewitcher, mix with punk attitude and a touch of gnarly black metal bite… Other label mates take on more of the black metal stance, these gents defile more punk sounds fused together with some vibrant imagery.

The opener ‘Behold the Horse of War’ has a vocal rasp like the aforementioned early Kreator, with a drum pattern that hammers you to the ground. We are not talking ground breaking technique here, we are however making a statement with attitude and vibrancy that is perfectly executed on ‘Inside the Electric Church’. Not isolated to this track alone, but on the entire release, there are some melodic tones in some of the guitar riffs, a great touch if I say so. The easy option would be to describe as early maiden-isms right?! Venomous vocal spouting of the song title ‘White Witch Black Death’ continue to convey a rabid wasps nest let loose, then the track like ‘Sword Loser’ cranks up the amps to eleven fuelled by face paced energetics.

The album artwork is something I find amazing, the colour and the imagery, it will look that extra special on a large vinyl sleeve. If you want to purchase the vinyl from the label, you will have to use their eBay store (some German labels are still not shipping direct to the UK due to Brexit issues), as a result, I unfortunately I missed out on pre order bundle options.

‘Demon Wind’ continues with the form you have by now come to expect, you get total consistency, delightfully executed on ‘The Hallowed Chamber of Storms’. My basic message is you know what you will get. Some may not like that, some like surprises, some wont. For me, this is a solid release with all the hallmarks you would expect.

(8/10 Paul Maddison)

https://www.facebook.com/knifeofficial.de

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/knife-knife