Their ‘A Road in Hell’ demo was featured on VM-Underground a while ago. As predicted, larger labels became interested in this Texan band, resulting in a full length entitled ‘The Ancient Gaping Mouth’ on Hells Headbangers Records.
The music is described as Black ‘n’ Roll but might as well be labelled Black/Punk because the rawness oozes from this album. It’s an album full of Black Metal & frenzy D‑beats Hardcore reminiscent of a thrashier Bathory, the crust albums from Darkthrone but also Carpathian Forest, Impaled Nazarene, Discharge, Sacrilege and The Exploited.
What we get is in your face excellent and raw riffing, slamming rhythmic shifts, and insane growling vocals from Noelia Garza. Debbie Gunn from Sentinel Beast and Sabine Classen from Holy Moses come to mind when submitting to her feral howls.
The entire album is drowned in this uncanny dark satanic atmosphere that lingers on the old Bathory albums. One simple has to applaud the rough, oldfashioned production and high instrumental intensity on this album. Wailing dissonant guitars on the slower parts and awesome brutal riffing on the faster sections, each is an explosion on itself.
People who worship these old school antics really must get a copy of this album. It gets a maximum score and a big thumbs up in my book. ‘The Ancient Gaping Mouth’ doesn’t reinvent anything, but one has to admit it does the style extremely well. So shut up and the moshing pit!
