Along with APOKALYPTIC RAIDS’ second album “The Return Of The Satanic Rites”, the band also sent us an adv. CD-R of their third full length “The Third Storm – World War III”, which musically marks a little change compared to their previous efforts. But don’t worry too much, the overall style is stil very much addressed to die hard HELLHAMMER maniacs in the first place, maybe even more than ever now. It’s just that their CELTIC FROST influences got dropped completely now and were replaced by various “Death Fiend” / “Triumph Of Death” era elements, which means you’re about to experience even more traditional and older HELLHAMMER – style stuff instead. The album’s opener (and also closer) ‘I’m A Metal Head’ for instance exactly recaptures the vibe of ‘Hammerhead’, while there’s some additional punky elements in their native tongue sung ‘Manifesto Politicamente Incorreto (Ou Um Dia De Fúria)’… and yes, they surprisingly DO fit into the whole concept! The musical core of the album is nevertheless again 100% HELLHAMMER of course, with the typical tuning and feel of their classic era (one of the riffs for instance immediately reminded me on ‘Massacra’, while a doomer part brings ‘Triumph Of Death’ up right away etc). You’ll even get another HELLAMMER cover this time (a killer version of ‘Revelations Of Doom’), which for some reason (again) isn’t mentioned in the tracklist though. Considering the fact that “The Third Storm…” feeling- and tempowise consists of a whole lot of different songs, it could easily be said that it’s the band’s most diverse release so far. But even though this is for sure another very cool and dedicated record, my personal favorite (so far) will remain “The Return Of The Satanic Rites”, for the simple fact that I always enjoyed HELLHAMMER’s “Satanic Rites” / “Apocalyptic Raids” and early CELTIC FROST period the most. Band contact: www.geocities.com/apokalyptic_raids, apokalyptic_raids@yahoo.com