PTAHIL
FOR HIS SATANIC MAJESTY’s GLORY
(Wraith Productions) 2012
In the black metal world, many listeners, even artists themselves, proclaim to not listen to metal anymore due to the lack of creativity and inspiration of current songwriting. Of course, I am one who believes that most music is recycled, only to be copied and pasted to a newly titled track, yet it’s the way it’s thrown together that makes the difference. Black Sabbath wrote “every single good riff ever,” (Rob Zombie, liner notes from Nativity In Black: Tribute to Black Sabbath) right? Many riff writers believe it. Carbon copiers, however, are a different story. Far too many bands blatantly rip the face off of a particular band’s musical skull, only to paste it onto the head of a court jester, making a mockery out of the band. I have heard about Ptahil for a while now, I have just never really LISTENED to them. Honestly, I haven’t heard anything like them. Or wait… Yes, I have heard it a million times before. But wait, maybe not… Is this the layering of every classic black metal album I have ever heard? I’m kind of confused with this band. Sounding like a mix between Celtic Frost, Venom, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, even spots of old Carcass (yes, Carcass). Especially vocally, Ptahil has formed a large lump of multi-colored, kid-violated Play-Doh, reminiscent of all of this classic music, yet there is something different about it. Almost historically cheesy at times, yet perfectly rhythmic, catchy, and vibrantly old school, I think Ptahil is actually an amazing rip off. I recall Terrorizer’s review of Watain’s Lawless Darkness album; I believe the quote was, “Old school Bathory with extra everything.” Well, that’s kind of what For His Satanic Majesty’s Glory has, but extra, extra everything. I hear mostly older Celtic Frost, some Venom, but listening to the more deathly parts, I hear a lot of Mayhem’s Deathcrush. I can catch glimpses of Bathory. I hear whispers of thrash metal in its earliest forms. The catchiness of tracks like “Lilitu” and “Deathwish” bring Ptahil’s version of Satan-worshipping, human-destroying chaos in musica to the forefront of an underground metal scene that has been reportedly “stale” for a long time. Tracks like “The Great Satan” and “The Gate to the Kliphoctic Anti-World” give a familiar sound-off and farewell to open and end the album, respectively. The chants that are spoken during the latter are something Satan himself would be proud to clap to. Truth be told, Ptahil is nothing new. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not stale either. Ptahil performs with the precision of a band hungry for the old underground, and they stay true to their influences. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
