Kerasphorus - Cloven Hooves at the Holocaust Dawn EP

June 14, 2010

Reviewer: J. A. Burt

Pete Helmkamp tends to create similarly and singularly unique music regardless of the name it’s created under, be it the pioneering brutality of Order from Chaos, the slick Satanism of Angelcorpse, or the aural onslaught of Revenge.  Formed in 2009, and sadly, dissolved less than a year later, Helmkamp’s newest collective Kerasphorus managed to release only this Cloven Hooves at the Holocaust Dawn EP on what is probably the most exciting label going right now: Nuclear War Now!.  

Whilst Kerasphorus mightn’t sound precisely like any of Mr. H’s earlier bands, I’d think it’s safe to say that most persons who are fans of any of his work, are fans of mostly all of his work.  So if you despise Angelcorpse, or can’t handle Revenge, chances are you’ll not enjoy this one.  The Music itself is quite ferocious.  An eternal bludgeoning of intense extremity, the pain is immediate and acute and the short running time almost serves as relief; an oasis of respite before you put yourself through it all once more.  Helmkamp and Revenge co-worker J. Read on drums are locked into a barbarous rhythmic attack that seems nearly effortless, and both are lushly complimented by an amazing low frequency-focusing production job.   The blasting is relentless other than short breaks, and Helmkamp’s reptilian vocals are exceptionally powerful.  “Disturb the Furthest Stars” takes the prize here with its triple tempo thrashiness and disquieting, chugging middle section.

If there can really be any complaint about Cloven Hooves at the Holocaust Dawn, I imagine it would have to be a tendency to sound a bit redundant at times, but the glory of the shortened form of the release is that it never becomes a problem of the magnitude it may have had there been six or seven more tracks.  This is a fantastic release, and it’s unfortunate that the project has been shelved, but for now we’ll just have to be content to look forward the next one.

Release Date: February 2nd, 2010
Label: Nuclear War Now! Prod.

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Abyssal Sanhedrin
2.  Aesoth Paradigm
3.  Disturb the Furthest Stars
4.  Swarm Intelligentsia

Total playing time:  18:25

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