Womb/Hellcharge: This Knot...

I was recently sent this review request from HellDProd, or something like that, I am not really sure.  This small label has been sending me some really underground recordings for a little while now.  This is really raw stuff, stuff that most people have probably never heard of, but it is always fun to discover some deep underground material.

This is a split of a couple of black metal bands from Portugal.  It was released on Valentine's Day this year, making someone a very nice Valentine's Day present, I am sure.  I assume that this split is available only on cassette.

Womb is up first and they have a very punkish sound to their black metal, bearing more similarity to the early days of Venom, Sarcofago, and Sodom than to anything released under the black metal genre today.  It is all nasty and raw.  Utterly filthy stuff.  The songs are all very short and typically only feature one riff.  The Womb side consists of four tracks and less than eight minutes of music.  Short and not very sweet.

Next up is Hellcharge.  As low as the production values on the Womb side were, this is even lower.  The guitar can barely be heard and the vocals are even murkier.  The drums are about the only thing that can be heard that well at all.  That is a shame because I think Hellcharge's songs are a little more interesting.  I just wish I could actually hear them.  Hellcharge also has a big punk feel to the riffs and vocals.

Not a bad split.  Definitely geared more towards the ultra lo-fi black metal fans who like a hearty helping of punk in their sound.