Bastard Priest - Ghouls of the Eternal Night

Bastard Priest - Ghouls of the Eternal Night (Blood Harvest - LP 2011)

Finally!!!!!!!! Man, I've been waiting for this record to come for few months, probably since I saw its amazing front artwork for the first time. I must be honest with you and say that this is one of my favourite front covers EVER, one, which not only looks amazing (on vinyl especially!), but also which fits and kind of describes the music perfectly. Of course also the fact that I liked the previous LP "Under the Hammer of Destruction" so much was another reason for me to get this record as soon as I see it available... You should never judge the book by its cover, but here I was pretty much certain about what kind of music will this album deliver. And for the killer front artwork Bastards get an extra 20 points straight away, anyway.

Bastard Priest of course keeps exhuming the corpse of Swedish old school death metal, digging it out from the most filthy and forgotten tombs. Their passion for this style is undeniable and you can hear it in every sound of this record. It's influenced directly by Entombed, Nihilist, Grotesque, Merciless, Treblinka, as well as the American legends like Autopsy, Death and Repulsion. And all that is served with the huge dose of punk - in the end we get something very similar to some other currently shredding bands: Death Breath and Bombs of Hades. Don't be surprised to hear some of the filthiest, most obscure, morbid and possessed sounds ever! What I love about this music - and particular album - especially is that you can really make a connection of it with the zombie horror movies. While listening to it, you just see the hordes of the rotten bodies walking slowly in eternal hunger for human flesh! You just see the poisonous liquids running from their mouths and smell the pungent odour. You can feel the fear of living people, running away from the corpses. Songs are of course composed by very simple riffs, some structures are very basic and go back to the roots of not only death metal, but punk also, if you listen to such tracks as "Enter Eternal Nightmare"... This song is a classic example for Bastard Priest style and maybe it's not my favourite track by them, but it needs to be mentioned maybe for its great melodic guitar lead somewhere in the middle part. If I was about to mention my real favourites from the album, it would definitely be "Pestilent Force" - which is just like the title says, just a great dose of morbid energy, with some thrashing riffs and a cool, catchy chorus. Then there's "Poison" - I love this song for its doomy riffing, very slow and dark, almost like something horrid was crawling out from the pits of the grave. Just scream "POISSOOOONNN!!!!" and feel the passion! "Sacrilegious Ground" is much faster, with the drums pounding like the hammers of destruction and with some of the most killer riffs on the album - especially when the Bastards slow down a bit in this song! And if you like to get smashed by some rot'n'roll, then "Last Scream" will be perfect for you!

In the end there's nothing really wrong I could say about Bastard Priest. OK, this may not be the most innovative or aggressive death metal band ever, to some point this music may disappoint the fans of most brutal music, who will probably say it's just too filthy punk, nothing more. Yes, this music is deeply rooted in punk, it's also very simple in its structure and the riffs, but that's the charm of it. Personally I can say that there's something unique in Bastard Priest, something special that makes me like this band so much. It's the same feeling when I listen to other bands I've mentioned here, Death Breath and Bombs of Hades, who play very similar death metal to the Bastards. In the end I cannot even say if "Ghouls of the Eternal Night" is better album than "Under the Hammer of Destruction" or not, I think they may be just equally good. Find out yourself whether you like it or not. If not, then you can at least admire the front artwork. Also I must say that to listen to this music on mp3 would be fuckin sacrilege. No other format but vinyl fits such obscure music well.

Standout tracks: "Pestilent Force", "Poison"

Final rate: 85 / 100