This is an original Candlelight first pressing.
Ahhhh Havohej! Is it possible to exude extremity in any more ways than this band did with this album? How much more anti-Christian can you get in the early nineties, than to naming your band 'Jehovah' spelled backwards (their written equivalent of an upside down crucifix, I suppose), and having song titles such as 'Fucking of Sacred Assholes' and 'Nazarene Decomposing'? I mean, just look at the album cover art for fuck sake, with Paul Ledney throwing shapes in apoplectic god-hating rage – in the middle of a field! Yes, Havohej reeks of pure, vicious spite and revulsion, and my…. is this an amazing album because of that.
Forming from the ashes of Profanatica, Paul Ledney took what was left over from that band to make his magnum opus, with a few new blasphemes thrown in for good measure. This really is how black metal should be, way before the burgeoning US black metal scene truly gained its stripes with the uprising of Weakling, Leviathan, Xasthur and the like. The albums entirety reeks of unholy disgust, from the insane gravel-coated vocals, to the emaciated, finger-shredded guitar work, to the rattling drums containing the almost uncontainable tumult encapsulated in this album. It's Ledney's vocals and lyrics that really make this album what it is for me, featuring such unadulterated murderous anger which washes through his voice throughout the album, especially noticeable in the frenzied acapella title track – rarely before has such rage emanated from a human vocal tract. Just check out some of the lyrics of the aforementioned track too, to really get a vibe of where Havohej is coming from – you can almost hear the angels being sodomized in his head whilst reciting the sacrilegious hymn of repugnance.
The bands demeanor is stirringly old-school, with Ledney owing as much debt to Venom and Bathory's earlier black metal albums as much as he did to early US death metal bands like Incantation (interestingly he was a founding member of Incantation, so I guess you can't really call them an 'influence'), and the total sum of his influences goes above and beyond its means, taking on a life all of its own. Absolutely essential for any extreme metal fan, so be exceedingly ashamed if you've yet to procure this little beauty for your own collection.
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