Review by Felix on September 10, 2023.

Love them or hate them – Azaghal are Azaghal and I am happy that they have returned with Alttarimme On Luista Tehty. If we may trust M-A (and who are we to doubt it), it is the 12th full-length of the Finnish bulwark. Admittedly, a very small number of their albums did not hit the bull’s eye, but their discography also holds some real jewels. The new work joins the ranks of the really good outputs. That’s almost surprising in view of the comparatively broad range of sounds that it houses.

The almost mild 'Kultti' delivers unexpected melody lines and nearly rocking guitars. Unfortunately it gets obvious that Azaghal are not in their comfort zone here – the song fails to convince. 'Myrkkyä' sounds ambivalent due to its pretty synthetic ending. 'Kaaos' is cut out of a different wood. Death metal guitars invite us to a journey into the past when all people in Sweden seemed to walk the left hand path, crossing the point where no life dwells and finally fell into the grave. 'Syöpäläinen' hides behind the mask of a pretty generic storm of devastation, but its main riff reminds me of a typical Artillery opening; Azaghal just deliver the Danish thrash approach in a mega-violent black (death) configuration. But even if you do not share my mental link to the long-lasting gunners, you hopefully agree that this song belongs to the highlights of the album with regard to its sheer ferocity.

The technical data of Alttarimme On Luista Tehty is pretty surprising as well. Eleven tracks in only 38 minutes illustrate that Azaghal wanted to come to the point directly. Honestly speaking, black metal songs should have a length of five minutes or more to reveal both their full morbid aroma and infernal depth. But the exception confirms the norm. In particular very intense pieces like 'Syvyydestä Liekkien Takaa' and the scorched earth leaving title track (great guitar solo, nice brutal vocal intro) have no problem to leave their footprints in less than five minutes. By the way, the fact that a new lead vocalist has entered the line-up does not have any effect. The vocals are still full of hate, misanthropic and demonic. Sometimes the new bawler has to fight hard in order to be heard. The slightly noisy, not inappropriate yet hardly differentiating production gives the guitars a lot of space. The drums fight a losing battle here, but do not get me wrong. The album boasts with a breakneck sound, even though it has some special effects.

I already mentioned three great tracks, but the closer also should not be ignored. It is among the most dynamic songs and due to the nearly opulent length of six minutes it is able to offer more layers than the other songs. Especially the hyper-fast parts with the very strict guitar lines are fascinating. Thus, I cannot say many bad things about this monstrosity of evil called 'Alttarimme On Luista Tehty', neither in terms of the music nor with regard to the artwork. The latter screams for the vinyl format, but I foolishly bought the CD. However – the musical content justifies the purchase regardless of the specific form. Azaghal stand like few others for quality, stability and durability in Finnish black metal. And now I’m making an altar out of bones.

Rating: 8 out of 10