One of the classics of American black metal, especially in light of the scene's earlier years before it expanded and diversified tremendously in the 21st century. The U.S. at the time boasted Von, Grand Belial's Key, Xasthur, Weakling, and not a great deal else as far as pure BM is concerned. Several years removed from their now-legendary 'Faustian Dawn' demo tape, Demoncy released two full-lengths in 1999, even if one, strictly speaking, was an old EP padded with demo tracks. On Ixithra's second official release, which can be considered his first proper album, he unleashes an assault of savage, blasting, downtuned black metal which recalls bands like Beherit, Blasphemy and Archgoat, only without their substantial death metal influence. Rarely if ever before had straight-up BM been this viciously heavy, a hurricane of low-end tremolo riffs leveling everything in its path. More importantly, few recordings in my collection capture the sheer atmosphere of evil that this one does - even all-time greats of the genre like Darkthrone or Burzum never *approached* this vibe. This is one of a handful of albums I would consider a true "soundtrack to hell," and needless to say, any fan of the genre *must* have this.