Author's Note: This review is a bit of a departure because it's something of a memoriam. Recently, a notable individual in underground metal coverage passed away at an early age from natural causes, one whose efforts to catalog and spread the word of underground metal has made an impact in various circles over the years. We were in proximity online for some time and grew to dislike each other in that time, all for petty and unimportant reasons, and there was nothing about him I could call morally bad, so I was rather sad to hear he had passed despite our mutual grudge. Unsurprisingly, he has been mourned online of late, often through people reminiscing about his favorite albums and albums he introduced them to, and it's the former kind of mourning that first introduced me to this work. So, with all of that in mind, this one's for you, deathofthesun.

Just when you think you've dived into every ancient stinking pit of evil greatness in the underground, you trip over yet another that chews you up and spews your bloody chunks all over your screaming family. Face of Evil are a mostly forgotten act that released a slurry of demos and their self-titled full-length before vanishing, with only vocalist/guitarist J.Wildfire eventually moving on to bigger things (or anything, really) as Unanimated's current guitarist around 2016 and apparently nothing else beforehand. There's no shortage of quality underground bands lost to memory, many of which get uncovered and given proper attention these days, but this is one of the many who remain in obscurity, and perhaps the only one I can think of that released not only a great album, but arguably among the best in blackened thrash.

Charging forward like the inbred hellspawn of Sodom and Angelcorpse, Face of Evil is a nonstop barrage of malice and cruelty with jagged, atonal riffs that cut like obsidian blades, pummeling war drums, relentless speed and ferocity, and some of the most vile vocals I've ever heard. J.Wildfire not only knew how to blast hateful riffs like the best of them while squeezing in the odd lead that bursts out like wildfire, but his slew of grunts, snarls, and screams sounds less like a man and more like a legion of demonic forces gnawing on bones and vomiting blood on the innocent, and he's able to do it with an intensity and variety that'd make most wannabe yappers piss themselves while spouting odes to violence and evil so grotesque they'd make old Morbid Angel clutch their pearls. While I wouldn't call them tight, the band does an excellent job of creating chaotic and violent songs that never become messy or amateurish, they just hammer away like they're fighting a war for the devil himself and winning.

I've said a lot about this album, but it's such an onslaught of hateful evil that it'd be more appropriate for me to scream at you as I eat this review and toss the album at your scared and confused face. When it comes to black/thrash like this, there's no special trick or gimmick you can rely on, you just have to have hatred in your heart and blast away like you're bringing about the end of days, and I struggle to name many who do it as well as Face of Evil. We really need a proper reissue of this vile masterwork, because black/thrash simply doesn't get more vile than this.