FMA Reviews: Black Jesus: Black Jesus Saves

Originally reviewed here.

Some of the absolute filthiest, most depraved metal in the world has been coming from Australia for the last couple of decades. There must be some reason for it. Perhaps it is because every single animal on the godforsaken island is constantly trying to kill people. Even the koalas should be feared. With death at every turn, it is bound to have an effect on the psyches of the people. Which has to be the reason that there are so many ungodly extreme metal bands to come from the continent/country/island thingy.

In 2010, Aussies Black Jesus released their demo in cassette form only. Hell's Headbangers did what it typically does and found some nasty demo, feeling that it deserved a wider release, and re-released it on vinyl. That is just one of the many reasons why I like the label so much, their undying devotion to the metal underground.

This is a nice, grimy slab of death metal done in the older style. It sounds a lot like demo-era Nihilist, Carnage, and Nirvana 2002, you know the Swedish forebears of Entombed, Dismember, and their ilk. Which means all the songs are short, sharp, and straight from the crypts. The production is fairly decent but retains enough of a murky quality to make this sound like a suitable old school death metal album. The riffs definitely have that old Swedish death feel to them and the grunted vocals sound authentic as well.

This is a short reminder of how great some of the demo-era old school Swedish death metal bands were. It will be interesting to see what this band does. Will they follow the footsteps of their influences, or will they continue to put out filthy death metal. Only time will tell.