“Upon The Threshold of Hell” is the first Ritual Killer album, released on June 14th, 2005. It only has three members on it, Jordan Barlow on vocals, Zak Nolan on drums, and Sammy Duet who plays guitar and bass.
The album is a lot more rough around the edges, more like a demo at times, than a full on studio type album, but I love it for what it is. Since it’s Black Metal, the lower quality recording actually adds to it, rather than subtracts.
The artwork is done by Jordan Barlow, who is a wonderful artist and writer. His lyrics are also beautiful, and he is a talented writer.
I can imagine that this album would be played in the background of a record store. It has that type of vibe, where you’d walk in to buy used records and cassettes, and this would be blaring overhead.
I truly believe that Black Metal is Sammy Duet’s forte, and playing music is one of his greatest talents. He has this great chemistry with Zak Nolan, who I believe is a fantastic Black Metal drummer. Zak’s style fits in so well with the genre.
One of my favorite songs is “Dead River Intervention”. At the end, there is even an audio clip from the movie “Alucarda” included! Other songs I like are “Witch of The Sabbatic Fire” and “Empire of Shit”, though I truly like the album as a whole.
3.5/5 stars
