Surrealists (Temple Of Darkness Records)

 Another killer 7” EP of the Romanian Black Metallers of Satanochio, this time sharing this vinyl with the Norwegian Black Metal act The Konsortium…  The A side belongs to Satanochio, “I Spit Blood” is a storming piece of demented Black Metal with several Death/Thrash Metal influences, adorned by a varied and quite complex musicianship. This track is a solid slab of mid to fast paced bizarre Black Metal; using an odd sense of melodicism in contrast with the devastating atmospheres, Satanochio is capable of creating a heavily catchy and brutal composition. Once again the production here is not the cleanest, which completely fits with the aggressive and somewhat impure proposal of this band, so I have absolutely no complains about this aspect.

The B side of this split contains an interesting cover of the Ved Buens Ende song “You That May Wither” by the Norwegian Black Metal band The Konsortium, haven’t heard to this band before I must say I’m quite impressed by the quality of this act, I ignore their actual proposal since the composition featured here does not belongs to them, but the conviction and excellent execution of this classic piece of Avant-garde Black Metal certainly pays a worthy homage to Ved Buens Ende… This version of “You That May Wither” sounds slightly more macabre, more metallic and also quite modern-sounding (which becomes especially evident at the clear and polished production of this track) but maintains the original essence of this classic piece…

As with Satanochio’s previous split 7”EP with Aenaon entitled “A Parallel Zoetrope”, “Surrealists” features an interesting obscure artwork, and an overall impeccable presentation… This 7”EP is a highly recommendable piece of Metal, so if you’re into the whole Black Metal vinyl fetish, or are simply looking for some high quality Black Metal, there’s no way you can be disappointed with this release… (AP)