Vehemency Some say that black metal should evolve. Some, like Evil Wrath here, say a big fuck off to that. On their second full-length Chaotical Invasion, this hateful Canadian group offers nothing but true underground black metal in the very vein of Darkthrone’s golden era in the first half of the 90s. No more, no less. In good, and bad.

The paragraph above alone tells pretty much enough, but let’s go into some details, anyhow: Evil Wrath does know how to create cold sounding black metal without unnecessary twists, there’s that certain monotony in these rather long compositions - most evidently manifested on the over eight-minute title track - where a moderately paced blast beat carries the song through various tremolo picked evil riffs, rather high-pitched screams proclaiming death and hatred towards the whole of humanity on top. Bass guitar is quite non-existent but it does make the album’s lo-fi soundscape a tad fuller. And who wants some lively bass solos on an old school black metal album, anyway?

I’ve heard a fair deal of better albums in this field, albums that have summoned coldness and lurking menace much more convincingly, but then again, I’ve also heard many worse endeavours than Chaotical Invasion. This album might offer little to someone who needs basically nothing but Under a Funeral Moon to satisfy his needs for basic, hateful black metal, but for those who still seek out for different faces within a constricted, uncompromising style, Chaotical Invasion might just be his thing.