Rage Nucléaire – Unrelenting Fucking Hatred
One can always count on the ever-outspoken Lord Worm to lay down a quotable quote in discourse, never fearing to comment on anyone or anything with eloquence and zeal. Of course, it’s his application of those same wordsmith skills upon Death Metal albums like former band Cryptopsy’s None So Vile that matter most, and with classics like that behind him, it’s easy to wonder if there’s anything left in the English teacher’s twisted mind to scream and share. My friends, there is plenty. Rage Nucléaire’s devastating debut, Unrelenting Fucking Hatred, is both a construction of highest-quality extremity and an audio murder weapon of the highest potency. The album’s miasma of Under A Funeral Moon buzz-style guitars, appropriately evil and unsettling samples, and flat-out amazing drumwork will sodden the parched with thirst and dying fields of Black Metal. But wait, there’s more! Much more. For years, many have tried to reintroduce keyboards into their BM blends with an In the Nightside Eclipse balance of atmosphere and skill without falling into latter-day Dimmu Borgir territory. Few have succeeded, many have failed, so allow me to introduce (for those unfamiliar with Frozen Shadows) Alvater, the one mastermind to slay them all. Responsible for enlisting Lord Worm and amassing the group, Alvater’s musicianship and skills behind the mixing board have not just helped create the best full-range Black Metal record to come along in some time. His deranged genius has allowed him to stumble upon the yep-there’s-synths-but-this-shit-aint-symphonic X factor. A Heavy Metal high-five is in order, people. Rage Nucléaire remind you that you don’t have to employe ’60s-’70s era occultisms and organs to color Black Metal anew. On Unrelenting Fucking Hatred, tastefully done ivory-tickling in the classical vein still dominates, fuck you very much. But how this ensemble of talent took all the greatest elements of the Second Wave’s seminal albums and twisted them into something fresh isn’t even the most perplexing element of the record’s success; the greatest mystery is how this welcome eardrum-abomination gestated in the first place. Hey ‘Bub, if you’re reading this and are real after all, did you have a hand in this…?
New paragraph, and this one belongs to Lord Worm. Alvater’s mastery of the Old Ways needed a voice with skill enough to raise hackles and eyebrows, and an ability to deliver that comes only with age and experience. A hailed and hated throat from Death Metal’s gloried past surprisingly fits the bill and more – Lord Worm’s churning, bile-filled delivery that’s herein somehow high and low all at once, uncompromisingly cuts above and through the malaise in a way that only a man who penned the lyrics to Blasphemy Made Flesh can. His is a voice inspiring terror, a blood-curdler that will have you flinging your headphones off of your head in fear. Would that more modern Black Metal vocalists could achieve the same power. If you like your BM early-nineties without being a carbon copy, throw this on your long-player and hide under your desk like you’ve been taught. As with any Weapon of Mass Destruction, Unrelenting Fucking Hatred will destroy you anyway. -Jim
Season of Mist
Worm Gear 