Review by Vanass on May 17, 2020.

Anyone blessed with the slightest gift of an interest in today's growing heavy hardcore scene will surely recognize Xibalba as one of the already established bands with a solid release catalog. Talking about such a giant, it's for sure that you don't have to suffer a lack of professionalism in their musicianship when you listen to their stuff.

As one of the biggest enemies of intros and as someone who would like to start a petition to ban them permanently, I definitely can't say that I was impressed by the synth intro, which resembled the atmosphere of the horror movies of the 80s. It was just annoying, and I can't really explain what such a piece of kitschy noise does on a record so deeply rooted in punk. Fortunately, it doesn't take more than twenty seconds before the sonic attack of the first track 'La Injusticia' begins.

The good news is that there is a decent layer of doom metal to be found here. Admittedly, metallic hardcore is not really known for its melodies for obvious reasons... there aren't any. The doomy vibes build up an atmosphere which is a pretty good way to make the whole album sound darker and more sinister, adding extra quality to the dominant energy- and aggression-driven sound. The vocals are barely understandable, very raw, and are somehow in the midfield in terms of power and vocal range. Although I'm almost one hundred percent sure that if I had heard them outside of this musical context they would come in and out through my ears like shit, the simple fact that they fit the music completely makes the whole experience quite enjoyable.

I can't get around the fact that this album is just primitively said quite heavy. The riffs vary mostly from slow, doomy parts to death metal riffs in medium tempo with occasional drifting to even faster tempos. Low tuned guitars and absolutely successful cooperation with the drums seem to be the formula of these guys. You can hear their best on the rather punky riffs, whereas drummer Jason Runes does an incredible job with his perfect timing and a quite pleasant fast rhythm. The elements that are associated with hardcore are absolutely masterly executed and are definitely the more pleasant side of this release.

Despite the fact that the technical execution is almost perfect, there is one big problem. The guys tried their best to create something new from track to track, and in the end, they succeeded, but the doomy elements, which surely are a nice element of the whole from time to time, come at the expense of a strong reduction of the pacing, which made the whole thing quite forgettable at some points. There are tracks like 'Saka', in which nothing interesting happens for almost two minutes, and this isn't just an isolated case. This could have been a flawless release, but the lack of ideas at certain points cannot be ignored and it strongly disturbs the whole listening experience.

Nevertheless, this is still an above-average release with some highlights like the groovy punk parts. I would definitely recommend getting this album or at least checking out the tracks 'La Injusticia' and 'El Abismo II'. And now stop wasting your time with trivial things like reading and listen to some metal.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on November 28, 2022.

Licht Des Urteils? Pardon? What kind of light is this? I don’t know. But I can tell you that the guys who run this band have released a fine debut album. Surely, there is no shortage of black metal outputs from Suomi. But there are also more and more people and yet no one stops f**king. And God in all his goodness loves every new child, right? Therefore it is only logical that we should lend an ear to every new black metal outburst from the crazy Finns. So this is what I do.

Uhraamo ("Place Of Sacrifice") does not demand many sacrifices from me. Instead, I enjoy this album. It is not perfect – the somewhat noisy and pretty non-organic sound is something I had to get used to. Furthermore, I would like to know what the dubious and inadequate sound experiments at the beginning of 'Baptised In Unholy Water' are trying to tell me. Even worse, the entire number lacks intensity and penetrative power.

Anyway, there can be no doubt that the positive aspects dominate here. The rampant frenzy of 'Kuollut' shapes a real jewel. The main riff crosses Burzum and Thy Primordial, but that’s not all. The musicians add a big portion of apocalyptic energy with the effect that within a radius of 100 kilometres in all places of worship the pastor is blown from the pulpit. Well, he’ll survive, I suppose. Apart from their insane destructiveness, Licht Des Urteils also cultivate the art of sulphurous riffing. It occurs in the middle of the exciting title track as well as at the close-to-death-metal-beginning of 'World Eater' (no Bolt Thrower cover). By the way, the title track also houses an almost considerate, mild part, but this is only a short section and it remains an exception. So no need to panic. All in all, I appreciate that really heavy riffs show up from time to time. They do not falsify the furious black metal character of the album, but they appear like a link to the traditional roots of metallic sounds.

The vocals are typical of the genre. The comrade at the microphone enjoys vomiting out sounds that my father would have called repulsive. I, on the other hand, am delighted. This allows me to ignore that atmosphere does not play an important role on Uhraamo. I enjoy other details instead. Do you want an example? Well, in the hyper-speed sections, the audacious guitar lines create staggering moments. I also like to experience that the full-length does not reveal a slow but steady loss of quality. The closer 'Ritual Of Six' is ferocious, relentless and simply great. It does not leave much room for improvement, only the lyrics could have been even more exciting if the song had been called “Ritual of Sex”. The restlessly f**king part of mankind might agree. Either way, cool album. Fans of typical Finnish black metal cannot go wrong.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10