Various Artists
Death Knell

March 2002
Released: 2001, Eternal Night Records
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: JP

Preamble: I don’t usually review Tributes, Compilations, EP’s, Live releases, Cover tune CD’s or Greatest Hits CD’s. Most of them are a poorly done waste of time and of interest only to fans of that specific band and or label. These types of releases are also hard to review because while they may be very cool and or unique in their own right, let’s face it…nothing kicks ass quite like a new, full-length studio CD, with all new songs by an underground band! In addition a compilation can have so many artists it would take paragraphs to review each track individually! I feel that rating some of these lame contractual obligation CD’s a four or five doesn’t seem quite right, no matter how killer the tunes on the disc. However there are a few exceptions that pop up once in while and deserve a little notice. This is one of them.



This is the very first release by the young up and coming Columbian label Eternal Night Records. I have stated for quite a while now that one of the final frontiers of metal is South America and this is a prime example. This compilation features 16 tracks by 16 bands from 14 countries. It has a real international flavour with the most obscure and extreme underground death and black metal bands from all over the world, including Slovakia, Russia, Poland, Brazil, Columbia and Argentina.



The packaging is a little bit thin with no liner notes, photos, or little extras that make a compilation extra special. However there is contact info listed for all the bands, which is critical. The cover seems to be an interesting collage of bits and pieces of cover art from other metal bands covers and tattoo’s. I can understand the importance of budget for a new record label’s first release so I can’t judge these minor things too harshly, the quality will improve as time goes on and budgets get bigger!



The bands featured are very, very deep in the underground, in fact I have heard of only 5 of the 16 bands on this CD. Again it would be hard to go through all 16 tracks but let it be known that all the bands provide some measure of killer extreme metal. The bands are Agony, Ancient Ceremony, Dysanchely, Tombe, Denata, Incinerator, Horfixion, Festerguts, Stormcrow, Warlust, Nefarium, Abominattion, Mithras, Throneum, Hatework, and Prospia.



There are many obscure, extreme metal compilations out there that no one has heard of or cares about. Why could this CD be important? Everyone starts somewhere! Many established record labels from Metal Blade, Siegen Records to Underground Symphony all started with one tiny little comp of obscure bands and started building their empires. If you are a fan of extreme underground death-metal, I highly recommend you get in on the ground floor and support Eternal Night. Check it out at http://www.geocities.com/eternalnightzine