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Well here's a tasty slice of the US Black Metal underground. Blood Storm are a cult-as-fuck band that you either have never heard of, or you think they are awesome. I am very glad to have moved from the former to the latter. Old-school, low-fi underground slayage is rarely as fun as this.

Do album titles get any cooler than this? "The Atlantean Wardragon" is a gleefully bare-bones assault of raw guitars, infernal screeches and bellows, hammering drums, and arcane and mystical lyrical ranting that calls to mind both Bal-Sagoth and Absu. I love that Blood Storm wear their Celtic Frost influence proudly right out front. I love that they have no stupid intro track but just fire away with the metal as soon as you hit 'play'. And I love that they sometimes slow down and dredge up some real doomy riffs, as on the properly named "The All One Of Doom".

It's hard to put words to it, but underground gems like this either have that obscure, cool, addictive feel, or they don't. You can't fake it up with studio tricks, you can't gloss over when it isn't there. An album either has it, or it doesn't. I think it just comes from guys making music without thinking about anything but kicking ass and making it cool. This little jewel of a CD has that feel in fistfuls. If the chaotic metal storms of "Iron Flames Of Battle" or "Destroyer" can't get your blood going, then nothing will. For lovers of the raw and obscure, this should not be missed.