Obsessed with the cruelty and furor of the first wave of black metal and it’s thrash metal forbears this Peruvian black metal band make a decent impression with a ‘primitive’, almost punkish approach to the genre on their first full-length album. Katari formed as one of the only true black metal bands in the central Huánuco region of Peru in 2006. Their sound is surely influenced by the works of Tormentor, Hellhammer and Mortuary Drape or at least ‘Ave, Rex Ivdaeorvm!’ resembles that same thrashing heaviness applied to black metal’s earliest evolution. A lot of the band’s sound, particularly the strong guitar work, is structured with hardcore/crust punk delivery that occasionally verges on a mixture of The Exploited and the blackened thrash of early Necronomicon (Germany).

‘Ave, Rex Ivdaeorvm!’ rides a fairly straightforward and familiar style of riffing for the entirety of it’s 30 minute tracklist and because it is so orthodox and raw in style it doesn’t hold up beautifully across repeated listens. I found Katari‘s debut to be the sort of album I might spin once a day but, when given a 1-2 hour session, the punkish riffs of songs like “Impaled On a Phallic Cross” lost their impact pretty quick. It isn’t a huge ding for the album but I’d at least note that the release doesn’t offer incredible depth, and rather aims for a banging, heavy, and utterly blasphemic good time. Whether or not the swinging punk riffs dilute the evil attack that surrounds them is your call, it isn’t as deep into the punk spectrum as something like Syphilitic Vaginas.

Great sound, solid style help push Katari‘s debut along and several of the songs are memorable, particularly “Fucked by Serpents”, but I don’t think it’ll necessarily hold up next to the huge influx of ‘first wave’ influenced black metal efforts so far this year. Any other year this stuff would be kickin’ and it just might be a bigger highlight for fans of punkish old school black metal. I was personally left without a strong impression outside of a few great punk riffs and a really strong, doomed intro track.

Paving your way to misery. 3.0/5.0

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