Skip to content
Reissue of this rare cult Japanese (though two members were American) proto-black metal 7" from 1985.
Our take: Reissue of the 1985 7” EP by this proto-black metal band from Japan, though the band did feature two American expats. This definitely has the Satanic lyrics that qualify it as black metal, but aside from that White Hell almost sound a bit more like a hardcore band than a metal band to my ears. It doesn’t have the rawness of early records by Venom, Sodom, Sarcofago, and the like, but what it lacks in nastiness it makes up for in speed and precision. I’m reminded of some 80s crossover-type bands—Attitude Adjustment, maybe even Crossover-era DRI—particularly when it comes to the vocals, but the music spices up the crossover with a pronounced Motorhead influence in both the rhythms and the riffing. This is a cool little obscurity that is an interesting little piece of history for both metalheads and hardcore folks alike.