So, a black metal band starring thrash/grind legend Danny Lilker of Anthrax/Brutal Truth/SOD/Nuclear Assault fame and some of the dudes from New York doomsters Orodruin? Yeah, this sounded pretty promising when Profound Lore announced the release of the debut album from Crucifist, and now that Demon-Haunted World is finally in my mitts, it's delivering on all of the gnarliness that I had been expecting. Crucifist's blackthrash throwback draws heavily from Swiss proto-black/death pioneers Hellhammer and the early Celtic Frost albums, and there's nothing wrong with that; Crucifist mines that sludgy, gnarly proto-black sound for all its worth, mixing together Lilker's bowel-churning bass sound with thick, detuned thrash riffs, drums that keep the songs ripping along at a mostly mid-tempo thrash pace, and a singer who belts out a whacked out mix of blackened snarls and higher pitched gargle. Indeed, Ron Blackwell's voice is one of the coolest things about this album, with an inebriated delivery that adds to the disc's unhinged vibe, one minute squawking out insane demonological hysteria, and grunting his way through waves of trippy delay the next. And it's old school blackthrash mayhem all the way, channeling the spirit of Hellhammer, Sodom and Bathory through frenzied songs like "Pursuit Of The Pious", "Skull Smashing Face Ripping Death", "Curse Of The Plasma Hound" and "Witchgrip"; you might think that this is another tongue-in-cheek exercise in thrash revivalism from those song titles, but this is really too fucked up sounding to qualify - Crucifist creates a legit atmosphere of disease and demonic weirdness that's bolstered by some really twisted riffs, gobs of gnarly hardcore punk aggression, a brief but very cool instrumental called "Neon Corpse" that combines creepy chants, bleak minor-key guitar, backwards tapes, and buzzing analogue synthesizer, and since a big chunk of the band comes from Orodruin, there's some serious doominess that creeps up on a couple of songs, with huge Sabbathian riffs popping up throughout the album and culminating in the nearly eight minute doom epic "Anus Mundi" that blends together gruesome Frost-style heaviness with mouldy classical doom and a blistering acid guitar freakout. And the album wraps up with a straightforward but totally ripping cover of Angel Witch's classic "Angel Of Death", just to remind you where these guys are coming from. This album is a blast!