Hell Militia: Jacob's Ladder

Album number three from France's Hell Militia bestows upon us even more of their blasphemous, devil worshipping hymns. Their first two full lengths, 2005's Canonisation of the Foul Spirit and 2010's Last Station on the Road to Death, were both valiant efforts that, though they were good and had their fair share of tracks that towered far and above the others, didn't quite hit the mark in terms of consistency. The five-year gap between the two albums could go somewhere towards explaining the band's lack of development but if Jacob's Ladder is anything to go by, they aren't about to compromise for anyone anyway. The problem here is that Hell Militia can be too formulaic to be considered one of the heavy hitters. The band's got plenty of hefty and cutting riffs, Meyhnach's vocals are extraordinary, and they can conjure up some serious atmospherics when they want to, but somehow they fail to make that push that would truly distinguish them amongst the horde. The samples from what I assume are B-movies about drugs, sex, and the devil add a very interesting sonic dimension to the tracks, as do the atmospheric vocal effects such as in 'Death Worship', but they fail to add the depth that the music desires. As it stands, Jacob's Ladder is still very good but these guys are yet to produce an album that is great. Even though that essence apparent across all of their releases remains to be refined, this is still a killer black metal album. And the artwork is pretty good too.

Track Listing:

1. Jacob's Ladder
2. Jonah
3. Sternenfall
4. Death Worship
5. The Black Projector
6. The Second Coming of the Pig
7. Deus Irae
8. Jericho

Added: January 12th 2013
Reviewer: Jason Guest
Score:
Related Link: Hell Militia on Facebook
Hits: 2189
Language: english

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