Impious Baptism

This is the debut full-length from Impious Baptism, a solo Australian guy who's been in a zillion bands, including Destroyer 666, Cerekloth, Nocturnal Graves, Destruktor and the peculiarly named Hobbs' Angel of Death. And, oddly, he's also appeared with Toxic Holocaust (live only, to further complicate matters). Anyway, the task at hand is not all that, but looking at this album's raw black/death metal, which works on a few levels. The death goes low and sludgy like Immolation, which always yields good results. Meanwhile, the black side of the equation is raw and cult-y, with the drumming, while good, the weakest link of the man's many skills. I like it when the death metal shines through like Incantation (see "Rites of Illuminated Death"), but it must be said this is not as great as that group. However, it veers more towards the cult/black side of things, not trying to take over any death metal act's legacy, content to just be raw, harsh and evil. Mission accomplished.