The album cover of THE GAUNTLET's debut disc features a Batman-like character swinging a multi-headed flail while riding a red motorcycle through the gates of hell.  And it's a great cover- don't get me wrong.  Ace Meggido- the sole madman behind the forty minutes of black n'roll that grace "Dark Steel and Fire"- is a New Jersey biker who blends the fury of BATHORY with the blackened soul of MIDNIGHT.  What comes off is a rough around the edges, primal scream of agony.  Come to think of it, the guy on the cover isn't so much Batman as he is Dan Simmon's infamous Shrike from his Hyperion Cantos. The Shrike is a mechanical behemoth covered in sharpened spikes, the gatekeeper of the planet Hyperion who can travel through space and time.  Oh, and he also impales people on the Tree of Pain, where they are destined to live forever in constant pain.  It's pretty much the black metal version of genre fiction, and probably one of my favorite characters ever in written science fiction.  In other words, just the cover of "Dark Steel and Fire" carries much impending promise. Broken promise or not, it's a wizened, varied collection of songs that harken back to the days of black metal's original Shrike, Quorthon.

Opening song "Where Heroes Go to Die" is pretty much the plate on which the severed heads of those in the Shrike's grip are served.  Everything after that either compliments the metallic sting of the blood pouring from their neck arteries or the soft, fleshy mess of graying putrid brains. Either way, it's a culinary feast guaranteed to ensure all of your dinner guests are going to be puking their own brains out a few hours later.  And, of course, all talk will revolve around the mythical battles fought in alternate universes or the size of engines in the latest Harley Davidsons, and Ace Meggido is guaranteed to sing about both, sometimes in the same song.  "We are free to meet our deaths with speed," snarls Ace on "Beyond the Limits". "So fast you couldn't know whether it's time to mourn or celebrate!"  Regardless of what we're doing, just pass the pus and tonic and let's get onto the next course.

The Quorthon worship continues full blast on the last two songs. You could slide "Those Who Will Not Return" onto "Blood Fire Death" and you'd be forgiven if you thought it was a BATHORY song.  But somehow, Ace Meggido makes this work: while the production and arrangements are so on the nose, in terms of emulating that Swedish black metal sound, there's enough variety in the song-writing to keep it interesting.  In other words, while I did feel compelled to go back and scroll through the BATHORY catalog, all that did was make THE GAUNTLET's tribute to the sound that much more impressive.  Assuming the guests haven't left on their motorcycles from the human flesh dinner party, I'm sure comparing the dessert dishes of mangled genital souffle and the eyeball aperitifs is much like comparing, well, Ace's blackened growl to Quorthon's infamous snarl.

In the end, sounding so much like BATHORY may be both a blessing and a curse for THE GAUNTLET, (although I'm sure in their blackened souls, they'd opt for the latter.) But there's something wildly exciting about this kind of music coming from the soulless wetlands of New Jersey.  There's a beating (armoured) heart to the album, and that might get them the following they deserve.  In the meantime, slap it on a playlist between "Blood Fire Death" and "Satanic Royalty" and you'll feel right at home, even if that is somewhere in the depths of hell.