If that title does not aptly sum up the career and music of Sweden’s Bestial Mockery (R.I.P.), then I’m at a complete loss as to what would. 2007’s swansong full-length, Slaying the Life, might have been the final fuck-you nail in the coffin, a demonstration of the group at its black thrashing war metal best, but Christcrushing Hammerchainsaw is the lethal sound of a primal, hungry (well, they were probably always hungry), and 100 percent unpretentious, group of Satanic assassins.

What is most evident on this CD/LP/picture-disc reissue of the long out of print 2002 full-length debut (with new artwork from Chris Moyen) is just how much crusty punk nihilism influenced the recording. While there is an abundance of black thrashing goodness even in the stuttering mid-tempo gallop of “Chainsaw Inkarnated” and the brief forays into buzzing groove on “Morbid Intervation” and “Raise the Chalice” (with a cool little solo to boot), there is just as much razor-punk injected into songs like “Warfuck” and “Bestial Satanic Sacrifice,” both of which clock in around two minutes.

It is that combination of elements that makes Christcrushing Hammerchainsaw such a feral beast of an album. It is one that begs the listener to stand too close and risk the lopping off of both ears, as though the psychotic Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen’s character in Reservoir Dogs) is standing right behind you. The “in” crowd knows all too well that this is a mandatory reissue, so get with the program.

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