Review by JD on December 27, 2011.

Side projects are a musician’s lifeline at various times in their career. They may be totally behind their main band and willing to die for them, but sometimes needing a diversion into a different direction musically so they can refresh artistically. Sometimes the musician’s side project is actually better.

Musician Danny Lilker (Nuclear Assault, SOD, Brutal Truth, etc..) has been a force for years in the metal scene. The newest project he is involved with now is one of my favorite CDs right now. He may be one of the best thrash musicians around and one of my all time favorite people as well. The man has stepped to the plate, ups the ante ten fold and, delivers some great and expressivly dark and evil Black Metal with joining up with Norway based darkness merchants Nunfuckritual.

More blasphemous, more blood soaked music has not been created in a very long time. Tracks like 'Cursed Virgin Pregnant Whore' and the title track show a Black Metal band that is a cut above everyone. With sacrilegious lyrics that match perfectly with the grinding dark vial power of the music, Nunfuckritual is the prime example of Satanic metal and how intense yet great it is.

Hail to the goat, bloody the virgin awaiting on the alter.... Danny Lilker and company have created some of the best Black Metal I have ever heard. I am still a big Venom fan from my teens, but these guys are giving the Satanic Brits a big run for their money. Light that black candle and begin the chants, Nunfuckritual is in the coven.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8.5
Originality:8.5
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Allan on April 20, 2002.

Urshurark hail from Italy, the home of not so many known metal bands. Playing a mixture of black, thrash, and death metal, I wasn’t particularly impressed by this band. But, there were rays of hope gleaming through the music, which made the listen not half bad. “Architecture of Perfect Damnation” is the bands first output, and shows us that the band may have a future ahead of them.

One of the most important things about the music of Urshurark are the keyboards. While a bit overpowering for the rest of the band at times, without them the music would be a step behind. Underneath the smooth keyboards is a layer of fast drumming and black metal guitar playing. I can’t really stand the drumming, since it was done with a drum machine. The double bass, which is used way more than needed, sounds like someone tapping their pencil on a desk at a very high speed. It’s just far to annoying for my tastes. I assume that the band will fix this next time, though. The guitars are concise and to the point though, which I like. While often a bit to similar, they often come out of the music to bring the listeners attention back, which may have been lost by the some-what repetitious structures of the song. That’s really the last bone I have to pick with Urshurark. The songs in general are anywhere from seven to eleven minutes. I enjoy long songs, but only if done well. If the band were to take their ideas and construct them better, the songs would definitely be a lot better.

Bottom Line: This is only the first offering from the band. If the band continues on and realizes where they need to improve, I see them having quite a nice future at hand. But for now, this album isn’t anything to fret over.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 5
Musicianship: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 6
Overall: 5

Rating: 5 out of 10