An unholy intervention, a blasphemous gathering of bestial filth and rawness, crudeness as never before, I have been wondering through my coffee induced mind, as I am trying to keep myself up and tidy for just a few hours, if I am being negative enough in order to accommodate the inclement feast I just had with this assumed Black Metal album. This time I got myself an intrusive pest, well actually not any kind of vexation but the wicked kind of PEST, an atrocious Black Metal torment out of the pits of Stockholm, Sweden. Though I am a fan of the modernized Black Metal, which can be considered as a true step forward for the genre, I got interested in what I had here. PEST molested the old blackened ways with additional musical framings of Thrash and Heavy Metal, and made it more desirable while not resembling even for a bit to the neighbours of the Norse. "The Crowning Horror", PEST's third album and first ticked into Agonia Records, unleashes the wrath of malevolence and mockery towards what is sacred to the larger part of the masses without a shred of elegance but with an impressive vapour.

Before I will plunge into the flesh of the material, I have to talk about this album's engineering just a bit. Not that I am any sort of technical, and I can't really use any technical terms, but I do have some things to acknowledge about. The overall sound has a fine comfort zone following the 80s era with an analogue type of vibration. There will be that won't agree with me, but I believe that the engineering elevated the material a level up and nourished it with the devilish aura it so needs. Fred Estby (Mixing) and Andy Jackson (Mastering) should be well praised for their efforts.

Even though I referred to additional framings, or additional layers, of musical directions surrounding "The Crowning Horror", I didn't mean that it was resolutely complex. Nonetheless, PEST stepped out of the old school Black Metal niche into illustrative melodies and ample mid pace riffing of the first wave of Black Metal in the vein of MERCYFUL FATE, yet also prevailed with the gruesomeness of early BATHORY and CELTIC FROST divulging fast paced hammerings, agonizing thin growling and Thrash oriented sturdy strikes that might even embroider the early era of SLAYER. For an old school driven release, there were more catchy type tunes than usual on those similar styled albums. Yet, my personal great pleasures out of this album were the weird and mystic numbers. Thriving with blackness, PEST signed off with "Eternal Curse", a slow pace song, felt pale as a dead corpse, etching with anguished melodic licks of the forlorn above sorrowful rhythms. The main riff seemed lackluster but actually it wasn't at all, in a way without the use of keyboards, it bore a kind of wizardry. "Devil's Mark" is not what you would call a common Black Metal track, leave out the squeaky vocals and you will have a Heavy Metal song, especially with the chief generated riff. This riffing actually has been around many bands, including 80s Hard Rock outfits, but its influence will never cease. Maybe a single flow about this one is that it will be probably a bit monotonous to most listeners, gradually it will take time to feel its value. "The Abomination of the God" pleased yours truly with an extra MERCYFUL FATE crunchiness, slow tempo howls into the miserable night, contaminated with despondent melodic lead fretwork of early 80s Metal tradition, yet overshadowed by the purity of evil.

I know that I didn't include that much of the raging speedsters around this one, but as I was looking for bits of gems, I noticed how PEST are somewhat varied, underline somewhat three times, with slow tempo movers. "The Crowning Horror" is as black as everything in Metal that you will listen to, I suggest that you will get a move on it.