NETHERMANCY is a black metal band from Portugal who formed in 1996. Their latest album, 'Worship Evil Sacrifice," is their fourth full length album. They have also released two demos and a compilation. This is an absolute rager of an album. It checks off all the boxes for a more old school approach to black metal but it isn't a carbon copy of what came before. The album has a raw feel to it, especially the vocals, but it isn't so raw that it sounds foggy and muffled.

There are some keyboards and melody sprinkled in throughout the 33 minute runtime. These elements aren't overdone and provide just the amount of texture needed. The album is definitely riff based-nothing atmospheric, progressive, folk or post....just pure 100% black metal. The album begins with the creepy 'Ghouls Intro' and it isn't really anything too special. The blackened beast truly begins with the second track, 'The Fall of Man.' It starts immediately and within seconds, a deep riff is accented by a fast snare attack and extreme vocals.

As with the other songs, the groove is very strong and I like how the bass doesn't get buried behind it. Subtle keys provide a morose backdrop at times, complementing the music. At the 2:52 mark, the song begins to churn out a deep rumble that settles into a groove, hammered by the tight drumming. 'Nuclear Christ Armageddon' is one of my favorite songs on the album. A deep growl that transforms into a reteched scream kicks off the bang that leads into some truly sickening groove. At the song's height, the music is chaotic and nearly overwhelming-the riffs are maddening. The later half finds the band doubling down on the speed and at this point my neck has already fallen off.

'Satanic Black Mass' begins with towering keys and a bass drop that threatens to end it all. As the distortion lays down a suffocating wall, clean guitar moves its way through before it all explodes. The vocals are particularly desperate and pervasive. The first half of the song is face melting but a kick ass riff sends the music into a mid tempo groove that is one part bulldozer and another part battering ram. The final track is an outro so the last actual song is 'Death Sermon,' and it has an almost doom-like grooved heaviness before going into a more classic style black metal riff. The middle portion of the song has light clean instrumentation to it and it acts as a brief passage to even deeper riffs and fantastic drumming

'Worship Evil Sacrifice' is a great black metal album with old school sensibilities that collide with a ton of kick ass riffs and nonstop, evil energy.