Kult ov Azazel/Vrolok Feast of Sacrilegious Impurity SOD Magazine (USA) The mighty Kult Ov Azazel returns with brothers in Satan Vrolok to lay waste to the pillers of humanity and enslave the blind Christians in a pit of everlasting torment. Featuring never before released tracks from Kult Ov Azazel’s 2001-2004 time period this is an essential purchase for fans of the band that is on almost everyones “top ten” list of U.S. Black Metal bands. Those unfamiliar with Vrolok will find themselvers transported to a graveyard of madness and sorrow by the swirling soundscapes presented herein. Stripped-down to bare essentials, Vrolok howls like an unholy wind of their four tracks and their no-frills style of ancient Black Metal offer the perfect complement to Kult Ov Azazel’s technical and polished Satanic attack. 9 Skulls - David Horn BallBuster Hard Music Webzine (USA) Kult offer up their brand of black metal which is played with the fury of a charging bull. This band is the real deal and they even throw in a nice Sodom cover done their way. This band have been playing their brand of black metal for quite some time and on this they show once again why they crush and kill. This is some older material, but sounds fresh to these ears. You also get some live stuff as well. Vrolok offer up some of the rawest black metal I have heard in quite some time. It reminds me of Hellhammer at times and it the perfect blend of raw intensity sure to please real black metal fans. The band just rip and crush through a series of black metal tunes that would make satan proud. Rock My Monkey Webzine (USA) Ok , this cd features two bands that both follow the black metal "code" of having shit production. However, the Kult Ov Azazel material is much more palatable than the Vrolok tracks. At one point in my metal-fandom I had a great dislike for black metal, before I realized there was much more to this genre than certain stereotypical factors. This split release features ALL of the steretotypical factors that my displeasure with black metal began with. The fact that these stereotypes are coming to you out of Florida and Pennsylvania, for some reason, is almost funny. Call me narrow-minded, but it's hard for me to imagine freezing cold abyss-like desolation in the sunny state of oranges, alligators, and Disneyland. But hell, with black metal bands coming out of the most unlikely places these days (Arizona, Texas, Montana, Jerusalem, Canada, etc...) nothing really surprises me as this genre as a whole is growing by leaps and bounds. Truth be told, I can almost enjoy the Kult Ov Azazel tracks. The 5 tracks on their half of the split consist of "Blood, Death, and Damnation" from their full length entitled "The World, The Flesh, and The Devil", a cover of Sodom's "Blasphemer", and three live tracks: "Rex Infernus in Exelcis", "Oculus Infernum", and "Perpetual Demise OF The Bastard Son". In my opinion, if the production were more solid than I would turn my assessment of this band around, as they seem like quite capable players. Hammer (drums) especially seems like a talented and competent presence in Kult OF Azazel's music. "Blood, Death, and Damnation" is probably the most favorable track for me on here. If it weren't for a complete inability of vocalist/bassist Xul to articulate, well, anything....then it would be a track that would compel me to keep this demo after I review it. Alas, this is not the case, and so all that's left to really hold on to for the regular extreme metal fan is the Sodom cover, which is ok by its own right, but nothing spectacular. So, grading of this half of the album on the 1-10 scale would probably go down like this: Production: 6 Composition: 8 Originality: 1 Decipherability: -50 However, in crappiness, this band will most definitely have to take a backseat to the mighty (ha) Vrolok, which is really just two dudes: Diabolus (vocals, keys, bass, guitar, electronics) and Kristján E Guðmundsson, who handles drums. Most extreme metal bands (not all...but most) with only one or two members really do end up sucking in the long run: and Vrolok succeeds in this as well. At least they have ACTUAL cold weather in Pennsylvania, so it's a tad more believable with the whole dark/cold schtick. Consisting of 4 original tunes, Vrolok's half of this disc is barely listenable: the production got even worse, the vocals sound like a muffled banshee confused in a closet somewhere, and the electronics/keys just grate my nerves. I have to say that I'm relatively at a loss for words: it just sucks. I'm not even going to dissect the songs here, it's such a waste. So save your money, kids. Support decent black metal: Martriden, Limbonic Art, Handful OF Hate, Thornspawn, Melechesh, hell....anything that's not these guys. I haven't disliked something this much from the bm community since Furze......ugh.