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Rock Hard 06/2001 - http://www.Rockhard.de

8.5 / 10 Review by Götz Kühnemund (translated by Sharon)

Hades Almighty, till '98 known simply as Hades, are back with their 4th long player, The Pulse Of Decay (the 5th release,Alone Walkyng, was merely a demo ep) and yet they are still back at square one. With their last album, Millenium Nocturne, the Norwegians found themselves on Nuclear Blast, were then licensed to Hammerheart and were finally left without no deal at all. They now release their new material via the newly born Psycho Bitch label which will hopefully take better care of the best black/doom band on this planet.

The mighty opener Submission Equals Suicide, a brutal lava wave in the same killer tradition as "Alone Walkyng" or "Dawn Of The Dying Sun", shows right from the start the band have not, despite a chronic lack of success, resorted to any compromise in style. Merely Janto's vocals have become more varied yet that doesn't mean that the trios (Stig left last year) black metal roots have been relegated to the background. Hades Almighty remain as darkly ominous and powerful as they always were and mix their Black, often underlined with doublebass salvoes, Doom sounds once more with Folk influences which were however more prominent on the predecessor. Good! because Hades Almighty are always at their best as pure metal steamroller!

Vampiria Mag #5 - June 2001

95/100 Review by Franceso Palumbo

Immense return of one of the most influential Black Metal band. After “Millenium Nocturne”, the lords of the darkness come back with an album that is a direct son of their early steps, with a misanthropic soul that they celebrated in these seven episodes. The macabre dance starts with the painful intro that introduces the listeners into a masterpiece of true Misanthropic Black called 'Submission Equals Suicide' with some of the best vocals ever heard… a masterpiece. The next step of the Apocalypse is the title track, another fantastic song that makes them closer to the evilest MOONSPELL above all for the voice resulting here a sort of mix of Attila's and Fernando's styles. With 'The Antichrist Inside' they show another side of their Dark Art this time with a morbid touch of hypnotic Industrial moments. The dance continues and we enter into 'Vendetta Assassination' another great piece of Thrash Black with instants of darkness that result incredible. With 'Apocalypse' they have created a true hymn of old Blackish music… macabre and painful indeed. With 'Razor' (one of the best and mournful songs produced and released by Janto's and Jorn's band) HADES ALMIGHTY close this marvellous album… “come dance with me in this complex maze…”.

Agonia Webzine - http://www.agonia.dagdy.com.pl

6 / 6

AGONIA WEBZINE MAY 2001 This is masterpiece! That's all I can say after quite a long time since appearance of " Millenium Nocturne ", when the recent full length album of Hades Almighty reach my hands. After a lot of troubles with their previous label and rather mediocre support for their latest album, after Stig left the band and some other troubles, the band is still going to be much more stronger and much more better band on the scene. Notice, that Hades Almighty is one of a very few Black Metal bands from the old Norwegian team that remains so dedicated to the genre. This is the only band which still play extreme and most hellish Black Metal despite of many trends around. "The Pulse of Decay" follows these nocturne epic way of " Millenium Nocturne ". Grimness & hellish ambient are soul of the stuff. I love those parts when delicate used moods meets obscure hymns singing by Janto & Remi together like in "Apocalypse" or when I feel the approaching razor of the Death on my neck when I'm listening to "Razor" or "Submission Equals Suicide". This album is greatest in the band's discography. They did incredibly thing joining spell of " Millenium Nocturne " together with power of "Again Shall Be". This is sophisticated Black Metal Art! This is Hades Almighty!

Hammer 07/2001- http://www.hammer-mag.de

5 / 7 Review by Robert Müller (translated by Sharon)

In comparison to their last, somewhat mediocre album Millenium Nocturne, the Norwegian Black Metaller, Hades Almighty, give all they've got on their latest chunk of Black Metal. The pulse of decay beats hard and evokes pleasurable goosebumps on the neck of the adept who bows in reverence whereby this is not a celebration of fast and furious black metal sounds. Instead brachial, pounding, primitive riffs beat at gut level whilst the psychotic vocals, latently reminiscent of Attila (Tormentor, sang on Mayhems' De Mysteriis Dom Satanas), buries it's claws into your flesh.The Pulse Of Decay skillfully plays with threateningly dark scenarios without running into the horror film soundtrack trap. Hades Almighty throw open the portal to the darkest corners of the human psyche where the aesthetics of evil can only comprise of brusque riffs, pulsating drums and demonic screams.

Scream Magazine 59 June/July 2001

http://www.scream.no

4 / 6 Review by Andre Aaslie (translated by Jorn)

This well known band from the west presents an incredible pulsating rythmic in their extreme “collages” in which catchiness, or groove, if you prefer, is enhanced this time by the impressive production. There has been a lot of great productions from Soundsuite Studios the last couple of years, and “The Pulse Of Decay” is no exception. This is the fourth full length album from these Norwegians, and in my opinion the best one to date. The songs may lack a little bit of variation, and I miss more new ideas, but the epic and majestic moods the band manage to create, harmonize perfectly along with those catchy,driving heavy guitar riffs. I even think that I can hear a few seconds with “sampled mellotron” later in the song “ Apocalypse”? Well, “mellotron” or not, “The Pulse Of Decay” has turned out to be a respectable album which I know will be a delight for many people with the sense for the more epic form of Black Metal. The album is only available as an import for the moment, but a Norwegian distribution will be organized in the near future.

C666 Webzine - http://www.C666.de

Review by Vedfolner

Unyielding as magma, burning the soul like lava and black as the ash from the very core of this damned Planet : Hades Almighty have released, for the third time, an infernal full length apocalypse beyond compare! Now reduced to a "healthy" trio, the Norwegians present, with The Pulse Of Decay", their strongest, darkest and most intensive album to date. All the familiar band trademarks have remained, however the nightmarish compositions worm their way faster and directly to the soul which writhes under the pain and desperately seeks to flee from the musically incarnated torture - yet all efforts are in vain! Nothing remains of the awkward bulkiness of it's predecessor, Millenium Nocturne. Instead, heavy riffing, mega power drumming and a kind of "steamroller" aesthetic has the upper hand which makes it hard to escape this current of hate and misanthropy. Certainly an essential milestone in black art, far beyond all trends and current fads - a must for acolytes of true black metal!

Review by: jørn T.

Tartarean Desire - http://embark.to/tartareandesire

7.5 / 10 Review by Vincent Eldefors

"The first release from the newly founded German label Psycho Bitch Records is by a band probably already known to a lot of you, at least if you´re really into black metal. The fourth full-length album from Hades Almighty shows a band still able to evolve and be creative which is generally essential in order to survive in the over-crowded scene of today's world. Even though they might not sound exactly as before the music is of course still dark and ominous and this is a band staying true to their black metal roots for those of you who still care about that. The difference is that they have aimed at more melodic and catchy black metal tunes than the old-fashioned poundaway style which seems to work out quite well this time. Hades Almighty is a band comprised of three talented guys but the music gets a little repetitive sometimes which is a pity because I know they could do better than this, as proven by the nice speed riffing of the title track and the beautiful Vendetta Assasination. There are lots of new bestial creations rising on the black metal scene and they will have to be careful about not losing the race for the throne of darkness. 33 minutes is perhaps a little bit short for a full-length album but quality is of course the most important thing and Hades Almighty still possesses this."

Vae Solis Web Magazine - http://www.rusmetal.ru/vae_solis

5 / 6 Review by Kai Mathias Stahlhammar

Unfortunately, it's a bit worse, perhaps due to the fact they've changed their style a bit, moving towards more simplified, heavy metal-based structures and lack of sublimity. No "viking"-chants, no more majestic ambiences, but still HADES ALMIGHTY, with their inimitable approach to music. Actually, I think such a metamorphosis was a necessity; even if you succeed to capture unique Norse atmosphere twice, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll succeed for the third time. Moreover, you can't play all the same kind of stuff for ages, can you? In fact, it's no less exciting than "Millenium Nocturne", but here comes one and only, but undoubtedly rather serious, drawback: if all the songs off "Millenium…" keep on playing in your mind centuries after you gave that CD a listen, everything's different with "The Pulse Of Decay". It's an excellent album, featuring excellent blend of black metal the Norse way (in the finest sense of this word), surprisingly innovative, but… a bit unmemorable. Nevertheless, I guess you'll definitely have to check out both CDs. That's for sure.

Review by: jørn T.

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