Let’s make this simple: if you think Hellhammer’s demos, collected on the Demon Entrails two-CD set, are the pinnacle of human musical achievement, then Crucifist’s Demon-Haunted World is gonna be your new favorite album. From the pulsing, overblown bass sound to a blatantly Tom G. Warrior-esque vocalist (he even begins “Skull-Smashing Face-Ripping Death” with a Warrior-esque “Ungh!”), these guys play ultra-primitive black/death metal like the ’80s never ended. (By the way, “Skull-Smashing Face-Ripping Death” also has a core riff so similar to Minor Threat’s “Straight Edge” that you may find yourself subconsciously murmuring “I’m a person, just like you…” as it roars out of the speakers.) This is ugly, unclean metal created to be played in basement clubs with water dripping from the ceiling and unidentifiable sticky spots on the floor. The band is made up of two members of upstate New York doom band Orodruin (which may explain the super-Sabbathy riff on “Curse of the Plasma Hound”), bassist Danny Lilker of Brutal Truth, and about six-dozen other bands, and a vocalist named Ron “The Rondertaker” Blackwell. They all seem to be in it for the love/fun of it, so it’s hard to fault them for doing something so thoroughly retro, so utterly unconcerned with appealing to anyone but underground metal fans. The disc includes a cover of Angel Witch’s “Angel of Death” which is totally indistinguishable from one of their originals. – Phil Freeman
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