Kult ov Azazel / Teratism – Split (2012)

Arriving from the underground label Negativity Records, today we have the limited to 666 copies, 7” split between Kult ov Azazel and Teratism. Featuring two excellent USBM bands, this release features both bands covering Venom’s classic “In League with Satan”. Being a huge classic, both bands really need to deliver the goods in order to not butcher this excellent track.

First up we have Kult ov Azazel giving it their best shot at “In League with Satan”. We haven’t heard from the band in quite a while since their crushing “Destroying the Sacred” back in 2009. With high expectations, their rendition of the Venom’s song is quite engaging keeping the rawness and catchiness of the original, but adding their own signature sound. With a nice Black’n’roll edge to it, this is actually one of the best covers we’ve heard from this track. The drumming is quite solid and well recorded, and the guitars are very playful and nicely rendered.

After the first very solid track, Teratism has the task of delivering an equally excellent or even better rendition of the same song. While we have heard more recently from Teratism in their excellent “Via Negativa”, we are still intrigued how they will deliver this track. Featuring their thick atmospheric elements, Teratism does an excellent job in bringing their own sick and twisted BM to Venom’s track and makes it sound a bit more evil. The vocals are clearly different from Kult ov Azazel’s version, and this track sound more like Teratism than Venom, making this cover very effective.

In both versions of “In League with Satan”, the bands nicely brought their own uniqueness to them and delivered very solid covers. Having a more ‘rock’ version (Kult ov Azazel) than the other one, it nicely helps to contrast them from one another. We loved both the Black’n’roll and the more atmospheric version of the track equally, both are different and engaging, making up for a very interesting split release. With awesome packaging this is one of those releases that any fan of USBM needs to add to their collection.

Release: 2012

Country: USA