The Final Separation＜限定盤/Golden Shower Vinyl＞

As famous for the radical nature of their raw black metal as their unintentionally hilarious album covers, Italian trio Bulldozer were secondary players in the genre's difficult mid-‘80s adolescence, which was marked by sporadic glimpses of a gloriously eclectic, even avant-garde future, sprinkled in amidst many more examples of endlessly recycled ideas. Bulldozer's 1985 debut, The Day of Wrath, largely fell into the latter category, but it nonetheless brought so much earnest desire, bile, and fury to the table (or sacrificial altar, as it were) that extreme metal fans were easily seduced, and have long since defended its important role. The same "questionable" but strangely appealing qualities are also found in the group's sophomore assault, The Final Separation, with the notable exception of significantly improved production values that tidied up, if not altogether sanitized, the no-frills, Venom-inspired black metal thrashings perpetrated on standout cuts like "Ride Hard -- Die Fast," "Sex Symbols' Bullshit," "Never Relax!," and "Don't Trust the 'Saint'" -- as well as sub-light-speed invocations like the excellent title cut and "The Cave." Ironically, while heralded as progress in no uncertain terms at the time of the album's release, in retrospect, this civilizing factor has become something of a sticking point for many "less is more"-minded black metal purists favoring unholy savagery above all else. But if compared strictly on a songwriting basis, Separation is on even footing with Wrath, so the only reason for grading it slightly lower than its predecessor is the overall lack of surprises, save for the mostly dull, nine-minute doom epic "The Death of Gods" and the oddball soccer chant led by drummer Don Andras on his self-titled track. In every other respect, black metal historians taking their first ride inside Bulldozer's crazed cockpit will do just as well starting with The Final Separation. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia