Prehistoric War Cult – Cold Wind Howls over the Burial Site (Recommendation)

I really didn’t know what to expect when I ordered the split that contained the first release of θoʊθ, which I favored a lot. It seemed that only after the start of the pre-order for this release, the promotional steps were taken in order to showcase what this project of Prehistoric War Cult is about. So here we are – surprise – it seems as if Panzer Squad at least temporarily called it a day with their project and started a new band under the banner of Barbaric Metal of Death that is called Prehistoric War Cult and marks the A-Side of the split LP I ordered. You can’t imagine how crazy I went after having found out this even before I listened into the release for the first time.

First things first and recollecting, Prehistoric War Cult is the follow-up band of already quite well-known German Black Thrash band Panzer Squad and seemingly marks a new chapter in the output selection of this constellation of members. The release came out on tape via Kellerassel Records as well as on vinyl via Fucking Kill Records (as a split containing the first release by θoʊθ) and is something you surely don’t want to miss this year. What can we expect from this EP? It is called Death Metal but I guess it does not come as a secret what the general framework of this release is going to be.

Just starting off with the final track of this EP, which is a Goatlord cover, and taking a look at the theme that is displayed on merch, music and artworks, it becomes clear that we are moving somewhere in between the borders of Death Metal and the still quite fuzzy genre of War Metal, which nevertheless is probably the most fitting term for this release. In case you’re wondering, it is not possible by any chance to detect any marks of Panzer Squad on this release in my opinion, we’re diving into entirely new terrain and it feels absolutely great.

As a matter of fact, when this release came out, I simultaneously just went hot for a lot of War Metal releases and tried to get deeper into the genre. Then we had this release and antifascist, Barbaric Metal of Death came along – count me in! The sound on this release is absolutely overwhelming right from the beginning – if you need Metal that is slapped straight into your face, you are not going to be disappointed here.

Ranging from primitive but striking and strong riffs, mid-tempo blasting drums that set you in the right mood, the taste of everyone who is interested in self-celebrating primitivism is going to be served on this release. There is no need for any slower parts here, only brief moments when the guitar riffs take a solo sequence to afterwards jump back into blasting drums – mutilate your ears while having this release at full volume on your speakers. The genres that are combined here are on the one hand in the vein of War Metal in between Death Metal and Black Metal, yet there are also a lot of sped-up Grind sequences that also unleash utter chaos throughout the entire sound.

The vocals do not settle at any of the genres mentioned above specifically but move somewhat in the vein of a 1st wave Black Metal release, which is the most fitting style you can come up with for a release like that. The production is primal, raw and just crushes your ear canals while listening. Having seen this release to pop up on the Greg Biehl YouTube channel pretty much helps a lot to explain what you are rooting for when you hit play over here.

When I got to know this release, I was in forced quarantine and stayed in a 8m² basement room for eight days straight and fucking believe me that it captured me at the exact right mood – I was consuming this EP every single fucking day. I can’t let go of this music, this is in my opinion a definite contender for a release of the year – especially in combination with the θoʊθ release on the split LP.