Above The Law (Suffering Jesus Productions)

 Blackthrone is a Finnish Black/Thrash/Punk Metal band which has been active since 2000; “Above the Law” is a compilation of the most notorious songs from their previous six demos. Their music sounds like a mix between The Misfits, The Exploited, Motorhead and Darkthrone… quite weird don’t you think? Well, despite of this apparently bizarre mixture the results are pretty good; the 22 tracks this Cd contains are an explosive and hateful musical hybrid. The music of Blackthrone is pretty more inclined towards the traditional Black Metal sound, but the Thrash/Punk influences are very marked into their music, the most dense and rocking parts sounds, specially in the guitar work, sound very influenced by The Misfits, while the most speedy parts seems to be taken from some The Exploited rehearsal… As I mentioned before the Black Metal reigns supreme over this album, the evil auras created by this sextet undoubtedly belongs to the most extreme side of Metal. The most bizarre element of this work is the vocal work, made by Evil Pope and T. Butcher; sometimes pretty standard Black Metal sounding, with raw and extreme shrieks, but also consists of all kind of yells including some very ridiculous screams, sounding sometimes like a swearing old woman or some kind of clown, I think the voices tend to sounds quite “unprofessional” in some passages; Mr. Pope and Mr. Butcher seems to be more focused in making laugh than singing Metal (by the way, I have heard a little of “Black Metal Juggernaut”, their first full length, and the problem with the voices seems to be resolved)… The lyrics are also very stupid, it isn’t strange at all, the band openly mocks the Black Metal clichés. The production of this work is very poor, do not forget this is a compilation of demo songs, so don’t expect a clear production, in fact various songs are very rehearsal-sounding, which becomes evident at the drums and especially at the vocal work. “Above the Law” is a pretty interesting work, a work to listen without complications or further explanations… Just enjoy the headbanging with this alcoholic bunch of Satanist. (AP)