Tsjuder – Desert Northern Hell (reissue)
For those that did not purchase Tsjuder’s Desert Northern Hell in 2004 (I did not) and are concerned about the uneven state of modern Black Metal (I am), Season of Mist’s reissue of this slab of evil appears at just the right time. Tsjuder approached (and still do) Black Metal the brutal way, rejecting easily digestible commercial lighteners, but unlike many who clamored for a return to roots in the early aughts, this album proved that if the skill existed, true Second Wave bands could still bring a church-burnin’ without simply being a slave to the beloved old sounds. Desert Northern Hell assaulted as a WYSIWYG Black Metal album of the highest calibre. Bassist Nag’s lead vocals are panned dead center, vomiting forth with high-pitch from the center of your skull outwards, so the very ventricles of your brain hemorraged with a poisonous hate of untamed power. Draugluin’s guitars unashamedly thick turned ears of stone to powder, as Anti Christian’s steam-engine drumming simply but reliably trundled across the hellish tracks. But much more is called for with this album’s arrival than a mere mention of an eventful rerelease of a modern BM classic. First off, an apology: sorry, Tsjuder, for my not picking this album up the first time around, though I’ve heard your name mentioned with hails. Secondly, and alright, yes, more importantly, recall as you listen, intrepid reader, the promise of what BM today can still be, represented in full by Desert Northern Hell. Listening to Tsjuder, one’s faith (heh) is restored in the joy that the flat-out ass-kickery of tracks such as ‘Mouth of Madness’ provides. With a copy of Tsjuder’s out-of-print, live DVD ‘Norwegian Apocalypse’ also thrown in the mix as a bonus, Season of Mist has gifted you all this cold / threatening / awe-inspiring Winter, with the best of what the absent fathers of Norway have left to offer. -Jim
Season of Mist
Worm Gear 
I have never heard of this band or album. Listening now on youtube. Whew, intense so far. No fucking around and frolicking. This is straight riffing and hate. I be getting this one hommie.
Very nice review. I’m going to listen to this again today! Ha!
HAIL Desert Northern Hell !! one of the best black metal albums I have…….