siLLy puPPy I’ll be the first to admit that i resort to checking out bands i have never heard of simply by being entranced by the album artwork and song titles. While occasionally i hit the jackpot and find some totally cool music i never knew existed, most of the time i end up with something that is fairly decent but doesn’t really get my freak flag flying full staff either. Well, such is the case with the rancorous rebels from Bolivia SATANIC BLOODSPRAYING. This album cover just reeks of old school black metal in the war metal world that reminds me of bands like Blasphemy, Archgoat, Teitanblood. Goatpenis and Naked Whipper but what the music actually sounds like is some kind of crossover hardcore and crust mixed with many black metal elements.

It should be mentioned that Latin American black metal bands mean business. They are out to outshock the black metal world by upping the ante with everything vile and totally disgusting. The band consists of two members named The Animal Pervertor and The Connoisieur Of Death and love to have shocking song titles on this debut release AT THE MERCY OF SATAN. With tracks like “Draining Blood” and “Satanic Skullfuck,” how can you go wrong? This short (24:27) but not sweet promulgation of perversion simply knocks it out with some second wave black metal with a little shock therapy for anyone who thought this type of metal had died out with the Darkthrone years.

While the cool album cover art donning triple goat skulls in black and white with blood red font is certainly an eye catcher, what we get musically isn’t quite as gratifying. While the lo-fi kvlt black metal feel is definitely in play here, the tracks mostly come off as a mix of a punkish hardcore band that has bathed itself in black metal sacrificial goat blood. While the vocals remind me of Japanese black metal bands like Sigh or Sabbat at their most basic, the guitar and bass distortion brings Swedish bands like Marduk to mind with their heavy emphasis on aggressive chord distortion. What turns me off most about this album is the lackadaisical percussion that simply lollygags along at a leisurely pace rarely deviating from its monothematic performances. It provides the backbone for the string rhythms as well which in the end gives us an album that is drenched in attitude but fairly meek in keeping the tracks interesting.

After all is said and done, SATANIC BLOODSPRAYING is an ok first release but it’s clear that to be relevant in the 21st century they need to step up their game a few notches because the nostalgic artwork, retro shock value song titles and second-wave-black-metal-by-the-numbers approach will only get them so far. A decent listen but nothing that hasn’t been channeled by Lucifer a gazillion times by now.

Time Signature Wrath of Baal...

Genre: black metal

Hailing from the productive, yet relatively obscure, Bolivian metal scene, Satanic Bloodspraying represent the more aggressive and hate-filled end of the local black metal scene.

The aptly titled "At the Mercy of Satan" is a 24-minute package of aggressive black metal evil. With the eight songs being based on simple guitar figures that fall somewhere between punk and black metal and which are accompanied by simple, but hyper fast, polka-thrash drums as well as old school black metal blastbeats, we are dealing with music that appeals to the inner beast in man just awaiting to be unleashed to wreak havoc upon the world. While relatively one-dimensional (which is obviously something Satanic Bloodspraying deliberately have aimed for), there are a couple of instances of variation - most notably the nicely heavy introductions to 'Tetragrammaton' as well as the near-epic opening of 'March of the Dead' (which is a heavier affair). Another heavy track is 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' which also has an epic feel to it.

Now, one might expect the production to be lo-fi to the point of being unlistenable, but that is actually not the case. "At the Mercy of Satan" is actually surprisingly well produced, with the guitars and drums having a crisp sound, while the bass provides a heavy bottom. The vocals are neatly separated from the instrumentation, and everything is fairly well balanced.

Normally, this type of primitive type of black metal does not really appeal to me, but this album does. It took me half a listen to get sucked into the aggression and evil that characterizes this album, and I ended up enjoying every minute of it. Maybe it's the production. Maybe its the music. Chances are that it is both.

"At the Mercy of Satan" is aggressive and evil, if you are into in-yer-face black metal hatred, then you should do yourself a favor and check out this black metal attack.