Here we have a reissue of The Old Evil from South German  Black  Metal band Baxaxaxa -  released as both CD and 12" in early 2020 on Iron Bonehead Productions. Originally, this appeared  as a tape last year- and was a comeback demo from the band who hadn’t recorded anything since 2002

Baxaxaxa were founded way back in 1992 when they released their first demo Hellfire followed by their split LP with the OSBM band Ungod in 2002. Baxaxaxa also recruited some of its members for the 2019 recordings of The Old Evil.
 
I have to admit that I've never heard anything from this project before and was surprised because the guy who grumbles nastily into the mic is Patrick Kremer under his alter ego Traumatic. Who is none than the owner of  Iron Bonehead label maker, and ex-Witchburner frontman.

The artwork for The Old Evil is fairy typical black metal- it was created Infamist Of Tumulus, the vocalist of Ungod, and shows us the dark lord, kneeing in flames, ready to torture the souls of the deceased...

The black metal sound of Baxaxaxa is archaic, dark, but not un-melodic. Traumatic roars pissed out of the speaker boxes, but with a natural voice that gives the music an almost thrashy edge. The five tracks are all true black metal as fuck and are beaten with the force of a crowbar in the face of hipster bands who have tried their hand at the black metal sound.

The atmosphere on The Old Evil is dense and oppressive, but the songs sweep you away heavy & varied sound- that moves from crushing doomy, rabidly fast and infernal BM. The dark and somber keyboard that appear in the background from time to time, and the morbid cemetery bells & wind noises, add some very theatrical or even grim hymnal moments to the morbid gloomy & bestial BM horror. The doomy moments are incredibly heavy and even bring a certain epic feel to the sound. You can feel this especially on the tracks "Bells Of Charon" and "The Old Evil".
 
For me personally, if I'm listening to black metal, the mood is carried by the vocals. The vocals make the whole sound of a BM project even more memorable and recognizable.This is what you get on The Old Evil.The well-balanced reverb effects on Traumatic's vocals make the whole thing sound even more darkly valuable and significantly.
 
If you're a fan of a nasty, grumpy yet beautiful black metal sound, that has a emphasis on heavy-fucking-metal. I can really recommend this great record!