Richard HolmesAll Hell – The Red Sect (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions)
Genre: Thrash/Black Metal
It’s no surprise to learn that Toxic Holocaust’s Joel Grind mixed and mastered The Red Sect: like Grind’s outfit, All Hell are in thrall to old school thrash, proto-black metal and crusty UK hardcore. And that’s no bad thing, especially when you can spew up gritty, quickfire ditties as good as Blackshape and Mass Possession.
Ok, this North Carolina trio aren’t offering anything we haven’t heard before, but there’s a real charm to their sophomore opus which can’t be ignored. Venomous will want to raise your fist in salute to its primal energy and unbridled passion, while the album’s title track is a stomp through the darker realms of 80s thrash, shot through with cold, primitive BM.
All Hell also have a vocalist, in Jacob Curwen, who sounds like he was born to front a band like this: in your mind’s eye he’s half Mohawk-sporting, phlegm spitting punk, half dastardly occultist – and he’s clearly a man steeped in extreme music’s finest traditions.
More inspired than inspirational, The Red Sect is nevertheless a whole heap of devilish fun: play loud and raise hell.
RUSHONROCK RATED: 7/10 Hell Awaits