Kings Of Genocide
Independent
Heaven Holocaust is a Texas black metal band that formed in 2005. Besides releasing a self-produced demo in October 2005, they released their EP Kings Of Genocide in 2014. Following an intro are six tracks with downtuned guitars and double bass percussion presenting a decent marriage of black and death metal. Think of The Abyss and early Marduk. Not to say there’s an oversaturation of the Swedish melodic death sound but there are definite shades of it. In contrast to some of the cult themed black metal releases circulating out there, all the instruments are mixed well; abrasive guitars accompany the brutal death elements, the bass is audible providing appropriate bottom and the drums are sufficiently tight to propel this release. As the band name suggests, the lyrics center on blasphemy against organized religion, liberation from suppression and return to pre-inquisition values. The symbolic destruction of pretense to piety in favor of the physical life force that pushes mankind on. Repeated listens might hypnotically fuel and transform said life force into something tangible. I can see myself getting into this if released twenty years earlier for just that reason. It was a time when extreme metal’s potential for growth and maturity had yet to be tapped into. From the gritty yet clean song structure and a sample here and there it will be interesting to see how Heaven Holocaust choose to progress next time they enter the studio. Songs that stood out for me include “Desecrate The Temple,” “Incantation” and “Virtues of Sodomy” for the qualities described above. -Dave Wolff
