Holland's greatest death metal combo have reached the age of ten. Congratulations guys! To celebrate their anniversary, they have released a compilation 'The Ancient Ones'. This is a journey to the beginning of it all...

The first three tracks are taken from the only demo the band have ever released, 'The Christhunt' from 1991 (their debut album from 1992 is also called 'The Christhunt'). It's a studio demo, but the sound is quite good considering the age of the whole thing. Playing is a bit sloppy (especially from drummer, he misses some beats). Musically it is heavily influenced by old fashioned Swedish death metal. Not bad, sick enough.

'Infernal Sights...' is a previously unreleased song lasting for 8 minutes, so it's quite varying. Fifth track is taken from 'DSFA 4 Sampler' and has a better production than former songs. Tracks 6-10 are live recordings with okayish sound quality (read: bootleg sound quality) and only really inessential material found on this compilation.

Video track 'Necromagnon' is taken from 'The Christhunt' debut. It shows the band playing in different places and some skinless rat pictures... Definitely the best track on this one.

This is for God Dethroned fans only. I like a lot of their two latest albums ('The Grand Grimoire' from 1997 and 'Bloody Blasphemy' from 1999, I've never heard the debut), I personally don't find this essential as true fans of the band will do. A trip down a memory lane for those who want to check out the past of the band or those who want this stuff on CD.

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/12/2000 20:52