Review by Fran on November 24, 2021.

Slayer is my favorite thrash metal band. Even if the genre was already coined, it wasn't until the Haunting The Chapel EP that things started going extreme in terms of high-speed tempos and the dissonant sense of melody. Pioneers putting the devil in music. This live album represents the end of the band's golden age that started with that EP. It was recorded shortly after the release of their last “classic” album and features the original line-up with Jeff on guitars and Dave Lombardo on drums.

Lombardo’s revolutionary Latino influence in thrash metal percussion is captured in all its glory, double bass drums sound absolutely pummeling as well as the intrinsic tum breaks. Tom's voice sounds strained naturally, screaming your guts out every night on tour isn't particularly good for vocal cords but his potency is intact and his attitude undisputed. Bass guitar is present on the mix, like it was in studio offerings before Reign In Blood where they turned its volume down considerably. When the guitars change leads, the bass fills the gap that rhythm guitar leaves. A crunchy low end is always pleasing in extreme metal. The guitars’ tone is sharp, acid, not that thick but has enough body to add the desired weight to the riffs and of course its distortion is completely raw and analog. Soloing is accurate and memorable, just like the studio takes. Contrary to Rick Rubin’s super dry trademark studio sound, this mix sounds very organic and the acoustic dynamics from the venue give a delicious, natural, immense reverberation.

The setlist consist of a compilation of the band's first six releases, balanced this way: 3 songs from the debut album Show No Mercy, 2 from Haunting The Chapel, the song 'Hell Awaits', plus the good half from Reign In Blood -Jeff’s songs- 2 songs from South Of Heaven and 7 songs from Seasons In The Abyss, the album they were touring for. This setlist is pretty much what they continued playing live for the rest of their carrier, just a couple of songs from the last album at the moment of the recording feel like fillers in here ('Expendable Youth' and 'Spirit In Black') the rest are all classics. Regarding the production quality, you can't hear a lot of crowd noise but the acoustics from an open-air festival definitely characterizes the mix a lot. The performance of the band is astonishingly solid, there are normal little errors but that just shows it wasn't edited much. What you can hear is exactly how the gig sounded that day, no studio overdubs.

Now that Jeff is dead and Lombardo left the band on bad terms, this album takes relevance as the only opportunity to hear such an extensive setlist live by the original line-up, the other options are the live tracks from Soundtrack Of The Apocalypse and Live Undead, none of them full shows. I'm taking 2 points away because of the song selection -the couple of fillers- and 1 point because the final master could have been slightly better, for a solid 9.7. This is the best live album from the most important band of thrash metal.

Rating: 9.7 out of 10

Review by Felix on August 20, 2023.

Here we have the gatefold split of Azaghal and Black Death Ritual with four songs by each band. I wanted to praise the great design of the album with its good artwork, the printed lyrics and the band pics, but there is one absolutely shitty detail. I am speaking about the picture in the centre of Azaghal’s vinyl side. I do not intend to describe it, because I am not interested in writing about ejaculating monsters… oh, now it’s too late. Anyway, let’s try to forget this idiotic illustration.

'Kuin Lampaat Teuraalle' kicks off the split. Two years after the release of this split, the song reappered on "Luciferi Valo" – for good reasons, because its riff hooks the listener immediately. The third track, 'Maailman Viimeinen Yö (Ja Ensimmäinnen)' celebrated its rebirth on "Omega". Okay, both songs did not come back in exactly the same arrangement, nevertheless, these overlaps devalued the split subsequently to a certain extent. Apart from these details, Azaghal once again turn out to be a reliable partner in terms of diabolic blackness. Despite the narrow stylistic frame, all songs take an exciting ride through the waste lands that lead to hell directly. High speed is an imprtant factor, but the dragging parts and gloomy sections are also very convincing. They reveal an enormous depth. It gets obvious that Azaghal were no beginners at the time they wrote and recorded these songs. The riffs attack the listener like violent pinpricks, the demon at the mic does not lack dedication and especially the comparatively calm parts in 'Mustan Tulen Palvelija' and the melancholic, already mentioned 'Maailman…' sound like Immortal, if the Norwegians were finally serious. In a nutshell, the A side works very well and the typical, compressed production gives you the appreciated Azaghal feeling.

Black Death Ritual are a nearly perfect partner for a split with Azaghal, at least at least if you want the two bands of a split to produce as harmonious a sound picture as possible. They present the same degree of blackness and brutality as their more famous partners in crime. It is actually a pity that the discography of the band ends with the release of their only full-length in 2005. Black Death Ritual have a good instinct – they operate very violently, but they never fall victim to an uncontrolled, barbaric chaos sound. Their mix is a bit more blurred than that of Azaghal, especially when it comes to high velocity outbursts. Nevertheless, these two bands meet on an equal footing and all songs of the B side are definitely worth listening. So we have eight proper songs on Neljä Vihan Vasaraa / Four Hammers Of Hate that did not revolutionize the genre, but showed its sinister glory and its sinister misanthropy once more. Perhaps even the ejaculation of Azaghal's demon ends once again at some point.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10