There are things set in stone, and occasionally it is hard to predict what will end up your way. But there are certainties in life that one just can't miss, no matter faith, loyalty and devotion. That is the power of that clicking sound, something that buzzes in your ear while taking a listen to divinity, a new realization. I might be talking in codes but all I am doing describing the opposite of what I earlier experienced on this Black Metal band I came to know. There are plenty of gushing emotions of a cold darkness, howls, whistles and scratching of nails through a wooden board, unleashed all at once creating mayhemic dissonances bearing nightmarish attributes. The raw filth, the anti-belief and harassing nature of the white religion, as if sent down using the same ladder from the heavens that took a crucial role in the ancient Jacob's dream, all generating the implacable sense that something horrid is about to unfold. And so it did. The French HELL MILITIA, a name that surged back in 1999 and considered one of the giants Black Metal bands in France, descended with quite an entrance with a one odd version of Black Metal directed to shock with something that would resemble to many as a creative form of art. "Jacob's Ladder", the new output via Season Of Mist, as promoted, was supposed to be the next thing in the sicker kind of Extreme Metal. Well I before to differ, but it is not the case.

Essentially, HELL MILITIA crafted a wicked kind of Black Metal music, roughly progressed with various twisted manifestations of the old Norwegian blend following MAYHEM, IMMORTAL and EMPEROR. This rotten French entity seemed to have set itself new boundaries to break within the music while implementing utter diversity to the common Black Metal riffing. With nearly blinks towards something melodic, the material barked and rumbled. The main vocal line of the one called Meyhnachcracked with primitively uncultivated style of blackened growls, perverted and fouls in the vein of early 90s MAYHEM and IMMORTAL. There were a few great moments but nothing to brag about I guess. The sharp edges axe tips of T. Persecutor and his companion, Arkdaemon, didn't blow me away, though there were a few signs of intelligent riff compositions. I was turned off by the almost nonexistent lead guitar segments that could have been perfect to the mass chaos of the rhythm guitaring. At least the rhythm section seemed skilled and well-tuned. I liked Dave Terror's disruptive blasts and his keeping it up with rather multifaceted passages and cadences. Lsk's bass wasn't that evident as the production sucked his channel right in the drums and guitars, so sorry dude, no luck there. In overall, I expected a hell a lot more from this lineup that have maneuvered through some kick ass bands over the years. There were shrieks of talents spewing off the songs like "Sternenfall", probably the only one that really did it for me as an intelligent Black Metal song that also was able to preserve some of the past's blasphemous nature. On the other hand, "Jonah" was a complete disaster and I might add even a setback for this supposed to be veteran band.

HELL MILITIA seemed to me like a rare occasion in Black Metal but what went on "Jacob's Ladder" is certainly not their top performances and compositions. I have no recollections of their past doings but what I read about them made me believe that there might be truth in all the promotion provided for them. So in short, an experimental approach that came as a messed up flunk but still showing a motivated crew that really like the genre. I sure hope for something better next time around.