Hellhammer
Apocalyptic Raids

What might have seemed like a springboard for the Swiss Hellhammer turned out to be their last sign of life. "Apocalyptic Raids" was the first official release of the band of a young Tom G. Warrior (guitar, vocals), Martin Eric Ain (bass), and Bruce Day (drums), more than a band, a creature born with the purpose of seeking refuge in it and thus disconnecting from a distressing reality that afflicted Warrior in those early 80s. Indeed, Tom's mother suffered from severe mental disorders, and adolescent anger and anguish did the rest.

Founded in '82, the band, influenced by N.W.O.B.H.M. and Venom, recorded three revolutionary demos in 1983: "Death Fiend," "Triumph Of Death," and "Satanic Rites," which essentially invented a new sound, noisy, raw, wild, and extreme beyond anything ever heard at the time. Many music critics of the era were shocked by such extremism, and the statement "the most unlistenable band ever" was written in bold in metal magazines. Surely none of those critics would have imagined the influence Hellhammer would have on extreme metal in the years to come. Their music was primitive and rough black metal with a feral power, a dark and decadent sound that still retains all its sinister charm today.

This "Apocalyptic Raids" is a four-track EP that continues along the same lines as the demos, from the frontal and combative attacks of "The Third Of The Storms" and "Massacra" to the massive and fast assaults of "Horus-Aggressor" to the slow, exasperated, and suffocating tempos of "Triumph Of Death," all marked by Warrior's animalistic growl, his dark and crushing riffs, Ain's clattering bass, and Day's pounding drumming.

Hellhammer would dissolve after releasing this EP in 1984, and Warrior and Ain would form Celtic Frost, continuing (in a different way) to break musical barriers and continue writing the history of extreme metal.