Put out by NWN! productions in 2010, this split LP features some great black/thrash material from Aussie metal masters Nocturnal Graves and the obscure Hell Spirit from Finland. The Nocturnal Graves side, while having some great material on it, feels a bit all over the place -- the first track sounds more stereotypically "death metal," the Bathory-worship track after it sounds like pre-Relapse Toxic Holocaust (keeping in mind that J. was at one point a live Toxic Holocaust member). This would be the last Nocturnal Graves release before J. decided to call it quits and
move onto greater things, and the inconsistency of the material for this split now seems like a clear warning sign of what was to come.
In contrast, the Hell Spirit side is much more consistent -- and because of that, comes off as the stronger side of the LP. I don't know much about Hell Spirit other than they're a Finnish black/thrash act who've released two demos besides this split. Nothing since then, and this split came out in 2010, so not sure what to make of them.
Bottom line being, while it's a bit of an odd split, it's still really good and worth listening to!
ARTIST: NOCTURNAL GRAVES and HELL SPIRIT
ALBUM: THE GRAVE SPIRIT SESSIONS
GENRE: BESTIAL BLACK/THRASH METAL
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