Review by Greg on June 25, 2024.

I should be accustomed to avoiding judging books from their covers, as well as bands hailing from unexpected countries, by now, but there's something I don't quite get about Cosmic Jaguar. A line-up full of Spanish pseudonyms with a strong fondness for Aztec history and aesthetics, of all things, it's actually a project by most musicians involved with Ukrainian tech-thrash weirdos Bestial Invasion. Okay, they lured me by curiosity alone, but do they offer something worth it too? Well, mostly.

Let's keep things in order. The Legacy Of The Aztecs is their first LP, released in 2023, and it doesn't stray much away from the guys' other main band, being progressive thrash metal at its core. As much as I'd have liked to compare them to Acid Age, I'm afraid it should be for historical purposes only – Cosmic Jaguar are clearly more at home with the jazzy detours of Atheist than the venomous, spastic prog-isms of the Northern Irish outfit. Frontman Metal Priest, aka Sergio Lunático, delivers the interesting lyrics with a decidedly shrill timbre, sometimes at the expense of clarity, even if I can't claim to be the most apt person to judge his pronunciation of 'Teotihuacan', 'Quetzalcoatl' and so forth, especially when he already seems to struggle with English every now and then.

Jokes aside, the album begins with a triplet of songs that seemed promising, but failed to exactly convince me. Take opener 'Teotihuacan: City Of The Gods': the stop-start chorus arguably aimed to channel Kelly Schaefer and friends, but it only comes off as a total momentum killer. The refrains themselves are a peculiarity, since most of them follow the same call-and-response formula of repeating very similar sentences, usually including the song titles, and while it isn't a problem per se (Kobold's "Chaos Head", to name one, has the same issue, and it's still one of my absolute favourite albums of the current millennium), it doesn't help either. 'The Northern Underworld' is a blatant example of this aspect brought to its extreme.

From the ambient rain interlude 'Yoalli Tlauana (Hymn To A Night-God)', then, The Legacy Of The Aztecs' most convincing stint begins. 'Our Lord the Flayed One' and 'The Harbinger Of The Sun' showcase Cosmic Jaguar at their most badass here, the latter being the absolute highlight with a riffy first half, a wind instrument solo (!), and a last minute adorned with female vocals in Spanish (and they wouldn't surprise me if they had an equally awful pronunciation at that, for all I know). All-out weird for sure, and I'm here for it. 'Burn Your Gods (New Fire Ceremony)' is also a neat instrumental, despite its relatively conventional nature, lacking on the 'exotic' factor – but you shouldn't worry too much after hearing the jawdropping technicality on display.

It's a pity, then, that the album soon returns to its previous, merely solid level after it. A literally endless refrain soon giving way to yet another slightly pointless instrumental, and then to a grossly out-of-place cover of a pop song (with a puzzling ending, to boot), and you have a textbook case of an anticlimactic finale for the album. Which is a pity, since it makes The Legacy Of The Aztecs appear worse than it really is – but even before the most successful part, it was more a matter of casually throwing around a cool idea every once in a while, and less being constantly convincing. Let's say the best moments were enough to plant the idea they could do way better than this in my head. For once, I was right... but that's a story for another day.

Rating: 7.1 out of 10

Review by Felix on December 22, 2020.

Many Swedish apostles of hell have been involved in Infernal, but Blackmoon was the managing director until his death in 2013. Unfortunately, Infernal were not able to leave us a large inheritance. But the few songs that they released did not shy away from comparison with the tracks of comparable bands. It is therefore a pity that Summon Forth the Beast offers only two previously unreleased electric shocks, while the remaining tracks are cover versions, inter alia Von's "Satanic Devil Pig". I know that this group is very controversial and the here presented track gives an idea why some people hate it. The delicately titled piece embodies pure primitiveness. It shocks with its inexorable straightness without forgetting the absolute minimum of variety. Apart from that, the song surprises with an explosive and efficient chorus. Hellish and embittered at the same time, the track matches the general approach of Infernal excellently.

Infernal's own compositions at the beginning of the album are even better. They shine with a higher portion of creativity, but this is not the crucial thing. Of greater relevance is that they possess this specific kind of precision and coldness which makes meticulously crafted Swedish death / black metal to a very special experience. The atmosphere is comparable with that of the most intensive moments of Necrophobic, while the music is even more thunderous. Blackmoon and his henchmen celebrate the fascinating combination of musicianship and aggression in a highly motivated manner. Both tunes are intelligently structured with the effect that they do not lack clarity and sharpness. Due to these circumstances, the music reveals its enormous evilness completely. The eye-catching song titles ('Branded by Hellfire' and 'Infernal Holocaust') do definitely not promise too much.

The output is completed by cover versions of Morbid Angel (solidly performed) and Bathory. It goes without saying that each and every track of "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" is worth covering. Yet it is also a matter of course that the original versions of these pieces are sacrosanct. 'Of Doom' was, is and will be eternally brilliant, no matter who has the idea to record it anew. I guess that even the sweet clowns of Nightwish would not be able to ruin this masterpiece. (Perhaps I better think again. Some dimwits are capable of anything.) Anyway, Infernal plays the tune flawlessly, but I cannot detect the signature of Blackmoon. Be that as it may, the five pieces of Summon Forth the Beast form a compact unit that can hardly be beaten. Not least because of the professional, transparent and nefarious sound, the album marks a triumph of "satanic" vileness. Dedicate yourself to this black, sinister and merciless demonstration of vileness. Too bad that Blackmoon (R.I.P.) has left us. Suicide is no solution.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10