The history of Italian horde Infernal Angels goes back to the beginning of this century, and even further back in time. Under this name, they sort of gained attention in their home country, but they did exist earlier under the name of Hell Burn. In 2002, vocalist XeS (sometimes simply written as Xes, without the capital letter ‘S’; useless information indeed, haha), the sole remaining member, and few other musicians continued under the Infernal Angels moniker, and since then they did release quite some material, though carefully effused over the years (one essential release every three years or so). Throughout time, the line-up did change a lot too. But this album’s line-up is the same compared to the band’s latest effort, 2023’s Shrine Of Black Fire: XeS (vocals), Asdraeth (bass), Nekroshadow (guitars), Apsychos (guitars) and Postmortem (drums).
As The First Blood Fell… is the band’s seventh full length release, and just like the aforementioned 2023-album Shrine Of Black Fire is gets released via Immortal Frost Productions. Compared to the former release(s), the compositions are even more lengthy, with two tracks clocking more than ten minutes; the four other ones last in between four and six minutes, resulting in a total running time of almost forty-two minutes.
The start is quite remarkable; I mean, the opening sequence of the first track, Blood Chalice Of Lilith, offers an extremely doom-laden and somber impression of isolationism and desolation. Yet soon, the recognizable presumptuous (positively meant!) elements join: complex drum patterns, discordant strings and, eventually, a fierce eruption of fury and terror. It’s that specific effort of well-structured dissonance and technical complexity that characterized the last album too, more than before.
Indeed, we’re off for another album of high-standard Black Metal, diverse in tempo, texture, atmosphere and performance. It’s a remarkable amalgam of different Black Metal sub-genres, somehow, delving inspiration out of Post, Atmospheric, Technical, Doom, Melodic and even Progressive Black Metal, and injecting the whole with details from Blackened and Morbid Death Metal. The eccentric approach surprises; imagine the organic changes in speed, for instance. A slowed-down piece can easily explode into a blasting sound-tornado, while maintaining a sense of melodicism, epicism and a technically high-skilled execution. The spine of Chaos and Disorder gets compound by a clear vision of which direction each individual yet cohesive piece has to follow.
I cannot but mention the ex-cel-lent sound quality as well. The production focuses on a fine-tuned equilibrium in between crude asperity at the one hand, and a sort of elegant, little Post-sounding panache at the other. It makes it not under-operated, nor falsely overcharged. Nice! But it’s the mix once more that strikes me, for all characters in this play participate equally in this sonic game. Evidently, the sharp, precise lead guitar lines (from traditional chords up to experimental riffage, with fingerspitzen solos and intricate techniques) and the deep, powerfully grunting screams (rusty lungs spitting sulfur and acid), sort of carry the core of this turbulent enterprise. Yet do not underestimate the highlighted magnitude of the drums / percussions, or the omnifarious significance of the four-strings. On top of it, mind the subtle weight of the few yet satisfying acoustic injections, or the excellent vocal guest assistance by Omega (think: Frostmoon Eclipse, Nubivagant, Darvaza, Chaos Invocation etc.) on Apotheosis - Manifest Ov Black Light and Inferno’s Adramelech on As One With The Void; both of them offering their throat to strengthen the blood-soaked message.
The better part was written during Spring and Summer 2025, with lyrics done by XeS, Asdraeth and Apsychos, and music composed by Asdraeth, Nekroshadow and Apsychos. The whole got mixed and mastered once again at the Atrocity Exhibitions Studio with Christian D’Onofrio (Acheron).
Once again, there are two different 12” vinyl editions (normal black and a transparent splatter edition), limited to 250 copies, and including a poster on A2-format and the regular lyric sheet. There are also 500 copies on compact disc; i.e. a jewel-case format that comes with a sixteen-page booklet. They all come with psychoid cover artwork – an occult symbol in front of a red-colored astral nebula), done by the excellent View From The Coffin source, while layout and design were taken care of by guitar player Apsychos (with ‘final adjustments’ by the label’s close relative WrathDesign).
https://immortalfrostproductions1.bandcamp.com/album/as-the-first-blood-fell
https://infernalangelsofficial.bandcamp.com/album/as-the-first-blood-fell