VESPER, Possession of Evil Will  (2010, Düsterwald Produktionen)

The skull:
Although this design is striking and wholly professional, we really wish this skull were bigger. Lots of wasted space with that whole huge area of black and dark rust red. It’s perhaps the yellowest skull and crossbones we’ve ever seen, and the logo looks like it was done by whoever designed the Usurper logo. But yeah, bigger skull next time, Vesper. You’re on notice!

The music:
With the vaguely Nifelheim-ish look (album cover and the band members themselves), and also with the Agonia-style album cover design, we really expected a slab of drunken blackdeaththrashing madness here. And that’s what we got! All the usual influences rear their heads: Venom, Bulldozer, Sodom…you know the deal, you know the sound, you don’t really need to hear this to know exactly what it sounds like. They’re musically adept, especially the drummer, but really, it’s a lot of the same old, same old. And the lyrics, man, I know this is metal, and I can hang, but songs like “Analfisted by Satan” and “Sex Slave Zombie” set the stupid-bar at an astonishingly low level.
— Friar Wagner