Vehemency Slovenian Bleeding Fist has been busy recently, unleashing a string of releases in the span of just a few years, and of these assaults Devil’s Ferox is the latest, and also the first one I’ve heard from them. Fierce, raw and Satanic black metal is Bleeding Fist’s approach on this EP, and ultimately in an old school tradition without much compromises.

Sound-wise, Devil’s Ferox is indeed rough and far from a polished affair. The drums pummel like hell in the dirty soundscape, unfortunately to the extent that guitar riffs are buried beneath the overpowered snare drum. Throughout the record, I’m reminded of Rabid Death’s Curse era Watain and why not old Deathspell Omega - the band is constantly evil, firing those malicious chords and rapid blasts.

The main glitch of Devil’s Ferox is that it simply lacks enough grabbing compositions, or perhaps there’s some killer material in there, but it’s mostly the unbalanced production that hinders the guitars from rising to required strength, hence the songs kind of pass from an ear to another without any other impression than yeah, this stuff is evil and hellish and so on... I am able to enjoy the ringing violence of the title track’s tremolo menace and the Death SS tribute ”Black and Violent” which is distinct with its rocky attitude, but it doesn’t cover for the lack of any really promising material when we look at the big picture.

That said, Devil’s Ferox never harasses nor impresses, it’s the kind of usual Satanic feast that mostly stays in the background for its dark atmosphere. There’s surely potential for something more, so maybe next time they’ll come up with more a convincing compositional work that relies also on memorable riffing instead of this mere dark aura.