Blood Red Throne
Souls of Damnation

Every good metalhead, besides taking pride in having a superior mind that allows them to decipher and appreciate a certain type of music not accessible to everyone, should never forget their goal which is the perpetual fight against "truzzismo" in all places and lakes and by any means, whether legal or not.

Personally, I am part of the "chemical phalanx," which practices acts of sabotage using subtle "biological" weapons against the spread of pro-truzzo material; but let's get to the details by describing a typical action:

It involves positioning oneself at a quarter past five in the afternoon in front of the record store below my house and waiting for Mr. Piercarlo to pass by with his "Birillo" (a giant St. Bernard from Tasmania), a breed famous worldwide for being fond of gorgonzola-flavored dog treats with all the trimmings... by 5:20, 5:25 at the latest, OPLA’, the deed is done, naturally left on the sidewalk in all its splendor, and listen... without a scoop! But I do not blame the owner because considering the abundance, he should take not only the dog but also a wheeled bin on a stroll. But this time the loud curses of the unsuspecting "lucky" person who steps into it up to their knee will not be heard; the precious material will have far nobler ends, still warm and steaming it will be collected and placed in an anonymous bag, then transferred and well concealed inside the record store precisely in the center of the "Tunz Tunz" section generally under the letter "L" (under the Lady Gaga shelf it fits perfectly); the area will become off-limits to any human nose within minutes until the intervention of the blue flames of the bacteriological unit, or even the bomb squad in case the dear beast has eaten dog treats with a chili variant.

Practically before evacuating, I have time to go to the metalheads' counter to celebrate the daring and success of the action (they now call me the Von Stauffenberg of the metalheads) with the freshness of a Brutal disc.

Now I say... A) Why listen to a new brutal death album considering that the genre, to use an understatement, does not enjoy extreme variety? B) Why specifically "Souls of Damnation" by Blood Red Throne?

Answer B): The cryptologist of the record store had taken a day off and thus nobody was there to decipher metal CD names and titles, I had to manage to choose an album that contained characters comprehensible to the human eye.

Answer A): Explaining why basically always buying the same album is even easier; but obviously to participate in the great contest "Sharpen Your Ears" better known as the "Superbrutalotto," with a fantastic grand prize that changes your life. Basically, whoever manages to find all 8 differences of a brutal album from any other wins an exaggerated amount and considering that only one lucky person has managed to do this some time ago, there is currently also quite a nice jackpot.

I have to admit that "Souls of Damnation" gave me high hopes, starting off with a bang with "The Light The Hate" at 2 minutes and 35 seconds a never-before-heard skewed little guitar sound guided me to the first point! And "Harme" second track, 2 minutes the singer growls in a duet with the drummer and I already find myself with 2 fabulous points, Bingo! This time it's done I tell myself, I only need one more and with three points I win one of the most coveted consolation prizes of the moment: a fabulous 1:1 scale gorilla plush to cuddle in the alcove of my bedroom.

The tracks roll by "Throne of Damnation", "Your Cold Flesh", "Prove Yourself Dead" a corollary of technique, power, stop & go, surgical execution precision that's never missing, what begins to be lacking are the hopes of reaching at least the third point. The album concludes as expected with "Ten Steps of Purgatory", in a crescendo of repetitiveness, déjà vu, and carbon copy. The beauty of brutal albums is also this, the certainty of its monolithic nature, the awareness that it will never disappoint you with its warm routine embrace. In conclusion, an album that for those who hate changes should absolutely make it theirs and dang... only 2 points.

STAY POWER but also STAY, try again, you will be luckier.

P.S. The solution to the mystery of the disappearance of Maestro Tepes, the great brutal album reviewer on debaser, seems near. Some swear they've seen him having fun in Bermuda. Who if not him, could be the only one to have nailed the 8 at the superbrutalotto? (Tepes, we miss you, come back to us!!)