U.S. black metal with a clue!? Here’s a step in the right direction. Upon first listen, if you know nothing of this band previously, it’s highly likely you’d guess they were standard Swedish black metal. This isn’t meant to serve as a compliment, truly I don’t care where a band is from but circumstances tend to dictate that comparisons to being European are considered a good thing for U.S. black metal bands. Thy Infernal hold their own, producing a cold atmosphere with a good, solid raw sound and performing simple, basic, melodic black metal. The album kicks off with a ravaging, straightforward black metal attack entitled "For The Glory Of Satan", a superb battle hymn that gets better with every listen. Two songs later, the title track, "Satan’s Wrath", boasts a catchy melody, poetic rhythm and excellent, raging vocals, but the the stop-and-go blasting that drives this song (as well as all the others) becomes monotonous and tends to ruin the atmosphere for me. Vocalist Armageddon needs to be complimented on his powerful set of lungs, especially on this track. This is perhaps the strongest asset of the band, matching the force of Sarcophagus‘ Andy Harris and just as well adding that extra step to bring Thy Infernal above their peers. On a side note, as ludicrous as this may seem, track 3, "Behold The New Age Of Lord Sathanas", spells out aching similarity to old Cradle Of Filth. Be this unlikely or not, it’s there, the second riff of the song with the long, high scream should be the first tip off, the rest of the song following right into the pattern. I enjoyed old Cradle back in the day, so it’s just amusing since I had already thought the song to be lackluster prior to this discovery. The album’s closer, an impressive cover of Black Magic, deserves praise as it’s very rare a band pulls off a Slayer cover that’s tolerable to listen to. With two original songs on this album well worth listening to repeatedly, Thy Infernal illustrates potential. There is feeling in the music, the material is hardly original but executed very well. A few moments really stand out, so as Thy Infernal mature as songwriters, I’d expect something much more effective. Written By: Abbas