Review by Felix on May 1, 2019.

Things I don't understand: Japanese characters, women and black metal bands that record two speed / thrash covers for their debut. Megiddo, hailing from Toronto, present a very patriotic kind of recycling while skidding Canadian classics into the (fictional) crowd. Great tunes, no doubt at all, but obviously caught in a strange context. Why? Well, Megiddo do not concentrate on high velocity outbursts. Their compositions (mainly) reflect the desperate, melancholic side of black metal as well. I am not talking about "suicidal" tunes and, by the way, most people who are interested in suicidal black metal are still among the living. Betrayal! But Megiddo love to give their riffs a lot of room to develop their aroma. And these riffs are far from bad. They create a basic discomfort which is almost more intensive than the music itself. No doubt, the combination of the mid-harsh, encompassing guitar work and the extremely rasping vocals creates an aura that draws the listener into the songs - and before (s)he knows how it came about, (s)he finds herself or himself in a dreary territory where the last ray of the sun has been noticed eons ago.

The songs have an impressive flow. Megiddo do not challenge the listener with extraordinary dislocations. They do it the conservative way and one riff per song is mostly enough. Ha, I hear the intellectual front screaming "what a primitive combo!". However, my answer is simple. Making love with the right girl, or, to be more direct, f**king is no academic challenge, the physical activity is predictable and without any surprising details - but it's always orgasmic fun! Well, that's the same here, even though it does not give me exactly the feelings I have when I'm in bed with (name censored) ... But it's useless, eggheads will never understand this point of view. Thus, it makes more sense to re-focus on The Devil and the Whore. The guitar tone has already been praised by the previous reviewers and they are simply right. Okay, this is no transparent production that makes good use of every technical option. But what really counts is the atmosphere and here Megiddo score in a tremendous way. Their massive and almost monolithic approach deserves respect. One can discuss whether it was necessary to record two very opulent pieces, because they actually do not offer more content than the typical, pretty short numbers. However, "Across the Sun... / Four Shores" adds a slightly hypnotic touch while exceeding the ten-minutes-mark.

One thing is for sure: this work from the last year of the twentieth century marks a very strong debut. Just lend an ear to highlights such as the abysmal "Slaying the Nazarene" or the strict "The Heretic". If one leaves the non-musical outro out of consideration, fillers cannot be identified, only - as mentioned before - the two covers remain a mystery to me. Nonetheless, they are anything but bad. Megiddo violate both classics and even though it is a matter of course that the originals remain unrivalled, the apocalyptic fury of the here recorded versions show an excitingly new aspect of the old material. Not only this - it also reflects the tradition-conscious mentality of the protagonists who seem to be influenced by some more well-known bands. Names like early Bathory, Venom or Burzum come to my steadily declining mind. This may not sound amazing or original, but these names are music to my ears. Still better, Megiddo catch the spirit of the unholy form of metal almost perfectly. With that said, I have to come to the end, because the devil and the whore are waiting for me in order to start a decent black mass. I have no clue what will happen, but an inner compulsion forces me to join them. Seems to be another thing I don't understand.

Rating: 9 out of 10