HELLCRASH “Krvcifix Invertör”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Is this 2021 or 1981? HELLCRASH seem to think it’s the latter, as they are bound and determined to be the moderrn day reincarnation of VENOM in their earliest years. The goofy album title and ridiculous album cover announce that here we have a band that wears their blackened hearts on their sleeves. This is raucous, blasphemous punk-infused speed metal hell bearing little sign of anything after 1985.
It works pretty good for a while, moreso if you’re a sucker for that raw “Welcome to Hell”/”Black Metal” (the latter being the actual album, not the musical style it engendered). The vocalist sounds more Cronos than Cronos does and the production is for sure early 80’s vintage. The songs are fast and despite their thick layer of grime and noxious speed, the rock n roll elements are obvious. But by the time we get to “Into the Necropolis”, it’s starting to look like HELLCRASH have shown us just about everything they’ve got. The songs generally start to sound very samey...even early VENOM mixed it up more than this. On the last track “Mephistopheles”, they finally seem to realize this and try for a longer, more involved kind of sound...almost like their miniature attempt at an “At War With Satan” kind of tune. More of this would have helped.
So while it’s not on the level of VENOM (or even Italy’s version, BULLDOZER), you can get some nasty and goofily Satanic entertainment from “Krvcifix Invertör” if you’re not too choosy.