MP3: Bastard Priest - Under the hammer of destruction

I should know by now to keep my expectations in check, but I was so looking forward to the new Bastard Priest album and have been for so long, it's such a letdown to report that it's merely okay. And the fact that it's only decent is almost enough to make me hate it. Almost. The problem isn't even that the b-side of the LP consists of an updated version of their stellar "Merciless insane death" demo, an obvious sticking point for many discriminating listeners, it's that the new songs on side A aren't that hot. They all stick to the same basic formula more or less with a chorus that repeats the title of the song and it's extremely tiresome the 3rd or 4th time around. I'm fine with cro-magnon lunk-headed metal, but this is too much, especially when the riffs aren't so hot to begin with. Thankfully, the title track "Under the hammer of destruction" sounds just as raging as when I first heard it on the demo over a year ago. The detonating bomb intro: not subtle at all, but a perfect summation of what Bastard Priest sounds like at their best. And yes, the chorus does just repeat the title.

Bastard Priest - Under the hammer of destruction