One of my favorite "tapes" when I was in high school. Sadly, this album hasn't held up over time.
The fact that I say sadly should indicate that I suffer from a common affliction, though maybe it's more acute in my case. I tend to want to like things I have and I have trouble being critical of them. So my fond memories of this Bathory release color my feelings about it now. But the truth is that even 25+ years ago I generally only listened to the intro and the first track over and over. Rarely would I listen to the entire album like I just did. The reason for that is overall it's not that great. All of the songs sound very similar and unfortunately none of them are as good as Total Destruction (The Return of Darkness and Evil isn't bad, but you have to wait all the way until the end to hear that).
A big indicator of my low opinion of this record is the length. The Return "feels" long. But I just noticed for the first time when I put the CD in the entire album is barely over a half-hour long. It's just so monotonous that I would have guessed that it was closer to an hour or so.
Oh well, Total Destruction is a great song and I love the album cover. But overall this release is mediocre. ** out 5.
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