In defiance of the almighty internet, there is still an obscure underground that with even the most comprehensive of web searches, almost no information on this “Legions Les Mystérieux” can be found. Slecht is one such band, with one page to their name and one limitedly pressed demo. It seems they still live in the early 90’s reign of Black Metal of truly blackened hearts and lonely, careless souls. With the same name as a Hellhammer record of legend, ‘Triumph of Death’ brings minimalist Black Metal with no unnecessary instruments, solos, melodies or new ideas whatsoever. The artwork is from the 15th century Pieter Breughel painting, ‘Triumph of Death’. Now you know where Hellhammer got the idea from.
Guzzling down glass shards and ice crystals, ‘Einde Der Tijd’ may use a basic, simplistic idea of raw Black Metal with nothing innovative, but what’s good is good. The break is awkward and you can tell that it’s due to the garage-sound production. Good thing it ends there. The title track, ‘Triumph of Death’, is surprisingly energizing and will re-awaken anyone who got lost in the previous tracks, as they tend to drag. ‘Noble Deed’ is faster, but not enough for hyper speed Black Metal junkies and actually slows down and picks back up smoothly, unlike ‘Einde Der Tijd’. ‘My Hate’ has that slow burning fire effect of old school Black Metal. The drums sound better here and you’ll get a couple more ‘ungh’s’ in before the demo finishes. The vocals get more shouty, but still stay amazing.
Many bands try to use the ‘true’ or ‘no keyboards, no female vocals, no frills!’ tag, winding up with a boring, horribly written hack job. Slecht offers a guideline to bands that want to re-live the last decade and stay in the ‘Transylvanian Hunger’ and ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ woods of bare trees and forever winter nights. ‘Triumph of Death’ may be boring to some listeners, but for anyone who loves that classic sound or thinks that Black Metal was killed within the first years of its inception, should find a liking to this Belgian band.
You won’t find anything new here, but hey, at least the music’s great.
