TUDOR
Ultra Black Metal
(NWN! Productions)
85:32min

Well, the title is a little misleading. This doesn’t sound ‘Black Metal’ the way many, including myself, might think of it. This is primitive Death Metal with horrible production, sounding a bit like VARATHRON’s "Procreation Of Unaltered Evil" to my ears; and that’s its charm. The double LP includes the band’s "Zombie" demo from 1990, and the "Skeletor" demo (yes, I said "Skeletor," He-Man), from 1991. Titles and lyrics are in Czech. Comparisons have been made of TUDOR to MASTER’S HAMMER, but I don’t really hear it. The layout is impressive, though more could have been done by the band to make use of the space. The bio taking up one half the inside gatefold was a bit much, but the photo collage record sleeves are hella cool… but what’s with the drummer’s Tim Grabber stripey trousers? Crikey. For those (like me) who love early SAMAEL and VARATHRON.

Charles Keller

Charles Keller

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