Hell's Coronation - Unholy Blades of the Devil

HELL'S CORONATION - Unholy Blades of the Devil (UNDER THE SIGN OF GARAZEL - CD 2018)

I liked Hell's Coronation debut EP "Antichristian Devotion" a lot. And I like their second EP "Unholy Blades of the Devil" also. This project perfectly recreates that very traditional black metal feel, which takes me back to the early 90's and bands such as Samael, Varathron, Mortuary Drape... But the old Polish black metal scene must have also influenced Hell's Coronation strongly (Christ Agony, Graveland, Taranis, and so on)! And it's great! Of corpse "Unholy Blades of the Devil" has much better, much cleaner production when compared to many classic black metal demos from early 90's (from Poland especially). It's still quite harsh, but not so primitive, noisy and chaotic! So, "Unholy Blades of the Devil" sounds like an oldie, but very refreshed and with better quality of everything. 

If you strip down these songs then you could notice that the music is rather simplistic and you cannot even compare it to the current trends of black metal scene. Hell's Coronation goes much, much further in the past than majority of current black metal bands. Even the visual side of "Unholy Blades of the Devil" with band's image are as simple as they have to be. But it works perfectly. I love that obscure, malicious aura of the music, I like how it slowly builds the atmosphere. Doomy riffs, eerie sound of keyboards, which help to achieve the atmosphere, harsh shrieking vocals... And five really great songs. I don't need anything more, only the proper conditions to listen to such music. Maybe it's trivial, but such black metal sounds the best when played at night, never in the summer daylight haha! 

Standout track: "Temple of Wickedness" 

Verdict: 80/10