Kingdom of the Dead

As of late, a few of us here at Metal Reviews have had a bad case of the shits when it comes to listening to some of the "crap" we get to review. This next band is no exception...... Bazzah is a raw and primitive, straight forward extreme black metal outfit from Malaysia. Their "music" is in the vein of such bands as Beherit, Blasphemy, Naked Whipper, Von and early Sarcofago. "Kingdom of the Dead" is the band's second full length release, available on From Beyond Productions. Upon listening to the first track on this CD, I thought there might be something wrong with it. The production sounded like someone recorded it over a telephone or in a bathroom! But then track two came on, then three and so on. Same thing! It's a very tinny and treble yet muddy and distorted sounding production. And every song sounds the same! Same freakin beats, tempos, riffs, etc. The drums sound like someone is hammering or shooting a tommy gun. No melodies, no keyboards, just utter noise to the ears! They sound like a poor man's version of Emperor. Believe me, I like alot of black metal and there are alot of quality acts still out there like Borknagar, Dimmu Borgir, Golem and so on. But trust me when I say save your money! The only reason one might want to purchase this CD is that the first Bazzah album, "Death Is All I See..." is included as eight bonus tracks. The strange thing is that this album sounds better than "Kingdom of the Dead". The production is slightly better, with more bottom end. "Kingdom of the Dead" almost seems like a step backwards after listening to "Death Is All I See..." The reason why "Death Is All I See..." is included with "Kingdom of the Dead" is because the Malaysian government destroyed most of the initial pressing, (probably because of its fierce Satanic blasphemy), after it only sold 300 copies, which makes the album extremely hard to find. Crap of the Month is a generous description for this slab of garbage. The only saving grace, and it's not much, is the inclusion of the debut album as a bonus. If I had to score "Death Is All I See...", I'd probably give it between a 50 and a 60. "Kingdom of the Dead" makes Aleskie's Tormented Soul review look like Album of the Year! Bazzah's "Kingdom of the Dead" should get Diarrhea of the Year as this stuff will go right through you!