Battlegod Productions was formed in 1994 Label by Gorgoroth of Baltak and Buio Omega to release their own recordings and others within the Australian metal scene. Over the years they have extended their reach, and according to their website one of their latest signings is Tony Martin, who to many will always be thought of as one of the singers in Black Sabbath, but who I originally saw play with The Alliance long before that took place. This compilation was released in 2016 as a way of showing the diversity of music on the label, and to demonstrate their wares. To be honest, only one name is familiar to me, that of Tony Mills who to me will always be the voice of Shy (but these days is probably best known for his years with TNT). I interviewed him once, years ago, and I am pretty sure he was from the Midlands as opposed to Aus, which just shows the reach of the label.
It is great to come across an underground label who are determined to cover all forms of metal, as many seem to sit mostly in one sub-genre or another, yet here we have power metal, thrash metal, melodic, extreme, folk and pretty much everything else in between. Take Cyclophonia for example, I was so impressed by the twin vocals (Andreas Angell and Kai Joar Kristensen) that not only did I do some digging to see where they were from (Norway) and which album the song “Retaliate” comes from (2012’s ‘Impact Is Imminent’) but noted them in my musical files as one to keep an eye on. They are so totally different to Harm who open the album, another Norwegian act who are into traditional heavy thrash, while Wyruz (another Norwegian act, I am starting to see a theme) play thrash which is far more informed by death. Temtris are the first Australian band on the album, and they are far more NWOBHM with twin guitars.
There are 12 bands on this release, all of which are interesting and I can see myself doing more digging into the label itself. This release does not appear to be available anymore, which is not a surprise given this type of album usually has a short shelf life, but it is definitely a label who are releasing some material that is worth looking out for.
7/10 Kev Rowland
