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New album for New York's Sacristy, and once again they stick to a proven formula with a few little changes. For one thing, 4444 has a few Black/Thrash moments reminiscent of Deströyer 666 at times, though there isn't much of that and the band has stuck to its raw Black Metal sound, well rooted in early to mid 90s Scandinavian Black Metal.

Low, indecipherable rasps make the bulk of the vocals here and are merely accompanying the blasting music, never taking centre stage. Sacristy play it raw and fast for the most part, sometimes with a tendency toward the minimalistic and chaotic. As on the previous album, they also throw in quite a bit of atmosphere, slowing things down occasionally – the intro to closer "Suicidal Wood of Despair" is short but quite obscure and a bit chilling. Sacristy have never gone over the top when it comes to atmosphere, and this is still true on 4444.

Sacristy do not invent anything, but they're good at what they do, which is churning out some old school, raw Black Metal that steers clear of gimmicks. I'm amazed that these guys aren't signed yet, especially with three albums that leave a lot of signed bands' material in the dust.