Although there aren`t that many Australian blackmetal that have really made name in Europe the underground scene down-under is very much alive. And with bands like Sadistik Exekution, Lord Kaos and Deströyer 666 the sure as hell got interesting extreme metal bands that also have a considerable amount of fans in Europe. Phoenix Rising is the third offering of this `war metal` band. The current line-up features Sharpnel, Deceiver, S. Berzerk (he replaced Bullet-Eater after the recording of this album was finished) and founder K.K. Warslut (brilliant name!!). The band`s aggressive black metal is much in the vein of the raw black metal of the early 90`s (Rise of the Predator has a kinda of Marduk feel to it) but also contains elements of bands like Bathory and Venom (listen to The Last Revelation for instance).

And to emphasize the rawness of the music and it`s hateful atmosphere the production is also very raw and not as polished as that of most of the current Scandinavian releases, and eventhough the drums could have sounded more powerful it works eventhough the! I am very curious to see this band live as I can very well imagine that the war-anthems on Phoenix Rising can turn a crowd into a raging, violent moshpit.