Review by Felix on June 28, 2025.

It's amazing: this year the Czechs of Inferno can celebrate their 25th band anniversary. A very remarkable number, and eight released full-length records are also something to be proud of. I, on the other hand, am ashamed to have discovered the band only now. Thank God a specialist for Eastern European Black Metal recommended this formation to me, especially their early phase. And I can say this much in advance: he wasn't lying. Quite the opposite. Inferno do nothing other than presenting themselves black, metallic and Eastern European on their album from 2008.

The latter characteristic is primarily, but not exclusively, fed by the use of the mother tongue. Once again, the choice of the most natural form of expression enhances the authenticity of the music because misanthropic art that resorts to English as the most globally understandable language possible carries a contradiction in itself. Inferno's material, on the other hand, is free of inner conflict. Including a few folkloric melodies to reinforce the Eastern European aura, the four protagonists celebrate pure Black Metal. This does not exclude that the fast-paced title song is followed by an atmospheric campfire intermezzo. To be honest, it must also be said that the intro, which is also rich in atmosphere, is too long at over four minutes. But it is easy to overlook such starting difficulties, because all the following pieces are suitable to give the listener one or the other pleasant shiver. Without quite reaching its greatness, an album like Behemoth's "Grom" seems to have been a certain influence for Inferno. This is one of the reasons why mid-tempo parts mix with fast eruptions, the voice delivers conspiratorial sounding words and the earthy sound fulfils all demands without appearing excessively modern.

A former member of the Serbian Army group called The Stone was involved in the making of the album, but the music of Inferno, while maintaining a similar level of depth, is less unwieldy and labyrinthine than that of the Serbian brothers. In return, there is no lack of intensity and aggressiveness, as the dynamic “Nejtemnejší, krvežíznivý”, among others, insistently proves. But the following "Ve vřavě války" also shakes up the treetops of the Moravian forests. Inferno do not shy away from relentless sounds. Without drifting into silliness like "raw black metal" or "war black metal", their music develops a wild aesthetic, into which occasionally, as with the piece just mentioned, a calmer part can be incorporated naturally. It's amazing how much substance there is even in the late pieces of the album. No question, for the vast majority of fans of pitch-black music it is time well spent to deal intensively with "Uctívání temné zuřivosti", especially since the disc gets better with every new listen. Maybe in a two-week's time I would award a few more percentage points - but today, as the last sounds of the keyboard outro fade away, I give the above rating.

Rating: 8.4 out of 10