"Demon entrails" CD by Hellhammer

by Björn Thorsten Jaschinski (31.01.2008) Hated by the protagonists, damned by the press, praised by the Black Metal-scene for two and a half decades now: the short-life Celtic Frost-predecessor was polarizing. Although the Swiss were no filigree technicians, they musically carried the pleb approach of Venom into new extremes and intellectualised it lyrically. They became the missing link between Motörhead and Black Sabbath to Hellhammer: these 100 minutes are the endlessly copied, often cited and covered cradle of evil. Like in case of Mantas/Death, numerous bootleg versions of demos and rehearsal recordings exist. Compared to the only rudimentary officially released material (four songs of the "Apocalyptic raids" mini album and the two songs of the legendary "Death Metal"-sampler), the worldwide interest in the three regular demo recordings, "Death fiend", "Triumph of death", and "Satanic rites" from 1983 is not surprising. This is the basis for Warhammer as well as for a whole subgenre, finally provided in an adequate form – even as vinyl edition!