The Italian band ARCHERONTE excists for almost 16 years now, but still ”Ancient Furies” is their debut album. Prior to this the band released a demo (”Demo 2010”), an EP (”Genesis Of Evil”, 2012), two contributions on a split album, namely ”The Last Prayer” from 2013 with KHEPHRA / BLACK FAITH and ”Eternal Evil” (also from 2013) together with NOCTIFIER, HATE THEM ALL and ARMA CHRISTI. Also did the band participate on ”Sampler Vol. VIII” from Black Tears Of Death. The band plays fast old school Black Metal. This formula still kills, but with todays standards and endless list of similar acts, a band has to deliver something distinguishing excellent and great to be worth the attention. ”Ancient Furies” has its moments, but some riffs and arrangements probably and unfortunately prevent it from falling to this category. Still, the violence that is unleashed in these 7 tracks is amazing. Partly because it sounds quite natural and partly because many tracks have their own charisma. For instance ’Flagellum Dei (Attila)’ made me think of SARCOFAGO and NUCLEARHAMMER, while ’The Lord Impaler (Vlad Tepes)’ reminded of NIFELHEIM and ’The Lame One (Timur Barlas)’ reminded of MAYHEM and all in high speed. Sometimes it’s South American rawness mixed with nordic riffing and this works amazingly good! If you’re a hardcore fan of straightforward Black Metal with fast (almost blastbeat) tempo with some thrashy influence, you should check this out. The vocals by Lord Baal are impressive and have an old Henri Sattler snarl in the era of ”The Christhunt” and ”The Grand Grimoire”. Many songtitles have the name of a historic and cruel ruler in parentheses, which at first made me think this album was full of covers. By their violence, you might think that each track possesses the terror of their named ruler. Pretty intense stuff, so check it our for yourselves and go to www.facebook.com/acheronteofficialpage or http://acheronte.bandcamp.com for more band information. Label contact: www.satanath.com