Vedmak / Wolf's Hunger

This is a pretty cool split showing off a couple of bands that are more or less equal in quality while working in slightly different veins of Black Metal.

Russian band Vedmak are all about furious, straightforward Blackened Death Metal that takes a few cues from bands like Fallen Christ, Angelcorpse and Immolation. They may not be as exciting or proficient as all that, but with relentless fast-paced blasting and lyrics all about evil, who says they need to be? Even their cover of Satyricon's "The Wolfpack" is pretty good, doing more than just playing the same song but fast.

Serbia's Wolf's Hunger, on the other hand, opt for a more Blackened Thrash sound, and being a longtime Thrash fan, I'd say they're the band I prefer by a small margin. Early Slayer is the key focus for these lads, with "Ave Nihil, Ave Nav" and a solid cover of "Die by the Sword" being the most obvious examples of this. Fierce riffs, addictive songwriting, and the caveman-esque rasps of bassist/vocalist Časlav's (Nicković) give the whole an evil, malignant attitude similar to that of Slayer's first two albums, and they do it with more energy and spite than Slayer have managed in decades.

Overall, this is a sweet little split showing off two promising bands that deserve more recognition. Solid stuff.