As you can see, this split release brings together 8 bands from the black and death metal underground. The first 4 are from Door County, while the other 4 are international. The 62-minute disc starts with the super raw black metal sounds of Abamath. The one-man black metal entity led by M. (all instruments and vocals) hails from Forestville and showcases their cold musical destruction with the song called "Malice". The second track is reserved for Beetlegork, a 3-piece heaviness from Northeastern Wisconsin. Their song "Bongload of Lungbutter" has a definite heavy sound and represents for us what they call cosmic metal. Then comes Pemphigus from Sturgeon Bay. The trio presents us with two songs, namely "A Link to the Past" and "Sister Dismay", both done in the good old death metal way, reminiscent of early Autopsy and Death stuff. The Crypt from Fish Creek unleashes hell with the following two tracks. Their first song is called "Bûnbak", with lyrics in Hungarian and a rather experimental death metal approach. It's about some really wicked vocals and lots of blast beat orgies. Their second composition is "Вихор Времена", with lyrics in Serbian. There are some very groove-oriented guitar riffs, abstract atmospherics and even female vocals, just to make their music even weirder. The 7th song is called "Fekete Víz" and is performed by Bál from Hungary. This one-man band is deeply focused on the atmospheric and cold aspects of post black metal. Then there's a super long and exotic black metal track called "Quantum Pai-De-Santo", performed by Conrad from Barbados. The almost 14-minute song certainly sounds strange to me, but the fact that they are from Barbados and play black metal was perhaps even stranger to take note of. But they are very good at experimental black metal, that's for sure. Poland's Martyrland continue to explore the weirdness within the boundaries of black metal. In "Biesy Ludu Slowa" you will find some really unusual and innovative solutions that I warmly recommend you to check out. The last and 10th song of this compilation is by the Polish band Teufelschloss. Needless to say, they also play a kind of experimental music, which is probably the closest to post black metal. Their cut is called "Our Breath – Cold", and it's a pretty atmospheric piece overall. The burned CD comes with a 12-page booklet containing the lyrics and minimal information about all the artists. I think you can order this split release from any of the above bands, but ask first!

This EP, which also bears the title of the forthcoming full-length album, doesn't offer much new, at least for a Destruction fan. There are 5 songs in total, with a length of almost 18 minutes. The first two songs, "No Kings – No Masters" and "Fast as a Shark" (Accept cover), were featured on the "No Kings – No Masters" 12" vinyl released last year. Of course, both songs will be on the new album, and "No Kings – No Masters" is a pretty good representation of Destruction's current musical direction. The band is definitely on fire, and with two new songs, "Destruction" and "A.N.G.S.T.", already available online, which are badass headbangers, the new album is set to be a brutal thrash metal assault. So I'm really looking forward to March 7, 2025 – the official release date of "Birth of Malice". The other 3 songs on the CD are "Whiplash" (Metallica cover), "(We Are) The Road Crew" (Motörhead cover) and the live version of "Nailed to the Cross". The latter is taken from the live album "Live Attack" (2021), while the covers were previously part of the Japanese CD version of "All Hell Breaks Loose" (2000) and the digibook CD version of "Inventor of Evil" (2005). The CD itself comes in a cardboard sleeve with a close-up of the cover of "Birth of Malice", designed by Gyula Havancsák. If you want to get your hands on this 5-song EP, hurry and order Legacy Magazine #154 (01/2025) or you'll miss out. This issue also includes a 12-page Destruction article and a 2-page poster, a must-have for all Destruction fans!!!