Hell Militia - Last Station on the Road to Death
Debemur Morti Productions
Black Metal
9 songs (47'49")
Release year: 2010
Debemur Morti Productions
Reviewed by Alex

Hell Militia represents and sounds like exactly what you would expect it to be. After all, this armed force is composed of some prominent members of French black metal underground. Merrimack, Temple of Baal, Arkhon Infaustus are represented, and the voice and soul of Mutiilation, Meyhnach himself, leads the way in the vocal department. With this lineup it is of little surprise Hell Militia brings back the atmosphere of Les Legions Noires, a brand of black metal recognizable purely by its name. As opposed to all of that nature inspired, tree-hugging, pagan and countryside Scandinavian metal, a number of the French bands, many of them donating members to Hell Militia, promulgated their black metal to be dirty, urban, originating in a gutter, under the drug infused fog. Last Station on the Road to Death is a worthy, but rather not very distinct representative of the genre.

Sickness and deprivation are two operative words for the album. Unwashed, ugly, but with the soul hiding deep within, just like a rail-station homeless person, Last Station on the Road to Death rips into it with Born Without Light, right after the fate of a drug addict is being explained on Always the Same. Depressive, but not by throwing overt melodies, the songs on the album keep on churning, from rhythmless muck (Unshakable Faith) to desperate doom seeking release (Et Inferno Ego). Listening to this you can certainly get an idea that life is not worth living for, especially if your habitat is infected with drugs and self-indulgence, but maybe it is not worth living under any circumstances. The answer will only become apparent at the Last Station on the Road to Death, when the bottom line is drawn. Spurred on by sickening growls by Meyhnach, who sounds especially revolting and horrible on The Ultimate Deception and the closing title track, Hell Militia throws out their black mass devilish hallelujahs (Fili Diaboli), alternating them with crusty soil grime of The Ultimate Deception and slow burning endless churn of The Pig that Became a God. The impression is that you have been thrown right into the sewage pipe and got a mouthful of raw shit right on the dive. Having finally spit it out, you are learning to live here, swimming with your eyes open, but this is still a celebration of nothingness, of that ill and evil stench from which there is no alleviation or relief.

I get the spirit of Hell Militia completely. Without ever having done hard drugs I can still feel the decadent passion boiling. Yet, the album has little memorability, which makes for its downfall square to the middle of the pack. There are few moments where the jolt becomes so enormous you can’t forget it. Most of the time, we are going through the process of being led to death, without being salvaged or executed. It is pretty apparent, when the track which stands out the most is the cover of GG Allin (Shoot Knife Strangle Beat & Crucify), which, while coming from a different aesthetic, serves as an album pinnacle in a strange perverted way.

Killing Songs :
Et Inferno Ego, Shoot Knife Strangle Beat & Crucify, Last Station on the Road to Death
Alex quoted 63 / 100
Other albums by Hell Militia that we have reviewed:
Hell Militia - Canonisation of the Foul Spirit reviewed by Daniel and quoted 55 / 100
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