Hell Militia - Last Station on the Road to Death (Debemur Morti 2010)

This album opens up with a trippy, pseudo-hallucinogenic audio sample of a what sounds like a doctor dictating the behavioral pattern of a junkie which is pretty unique in itself.

“Born Without Light” comes in swiftly as a chaotic black metal assault to the senses as it murderously cuts into your soul with a raw and unapologetic guitar buzz and miserable vocals. There’s a sense of spite and bitterness is this weird cacophony of despair and all out violent bouts with a nice surreal, almost horror film sense to it. The drums sound like heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway as you cower behind the door in the dark fearing for your life. Given the opening track, it could be about struggling with the paranoia and delusions from withdrawals or just a state of pure insanity taking over, either way it’s definitely a bit creepy and unique and I fucking love it.

“Unshakable Faith” is sort of the dialogue/narrative of the evolution of the situation after the last track where the character has definitely gone over the edge and now the world is coldly assessing their view. About halfway through this cold and calculating track the main character unleashes his/her psychotic break in full with maniacal groans of pure lunacy and anger.

“Et Inferno Ego” is absolute insanity and chaos, somewhat reminding me of a rawer version of Deathspell Omega. It’s pure cyclone clanging and screaming that circles around you like a massive cyclone that inevitably sucks you violently into the deepest void of misery and hell.

“The Ultimate Deception” is another uniquely haunting and grim track that sounds as though it’s dispersing through some dark crevice from deep within the Earth where all is fire and molten lava. This whole album is unique but not too avant-garde, mixes the raw and belligerent black metal trademarks with a sense of blackened hallucinogenic and torturous personal atmospheres to create something of a soundtrack to a nightmare.

Highly recommended for fans of: Deathspell Omega, Krieg, Krohm, Leviathan, Xasthur, Tenebrae in Perpetuum.