This is going to be as ugly and raw as you can imagine. VON formed in 1988/1989(sources differ), in San Francisco, California. They recorded two demos, Satanic Blood and Blood Angel. Satanic Blood was released in 1992, but Blood Angel was never to be released on it’s own. However, the album I’m posting today contains both demos and a live recording from San Francisco.

VON – Satanic Blood Angel (2002)

CD1 (track 1-8: Satanic Blood, 9-14: Blood Angel):

• 1 Devil Pig – 02:23
• 2 Veinen – 02:26
• 3 Watain – 02:49
• 4 Lamb – 01:41
• 5 Veadtuck – 03:17
• 6 Satanic Blood – 02:05
• 7 Christ Fire – 02:56
• 8 Von – 02:25
• 9 Evisc – 01:56
• 10 Release – 01:18
• 11 Blood Angel – 01:27
• 12 Chalice of Blood – 04:06
• 13 Vennt – 02:16
• 14 Backskin – 03:21

CD2 (Live in San Francisco):

• 1 Veinen – 02:27
• 2 Watain – 03:02
• 3 Lamb – 01:34
• 4 Evisc – 01:59
• 5 Release – 01:20
• 6 Satanic Blood – 02:18
• 7 Veadtuck – 03:11
• 8 Chalice of Blood – 04:12
• 9 Goat Christ – 01:42
• 10 Vennt – 02:11
• 11 Dissection Inhuman – 02:27
• 12 Von – 02:58

Here’s a random quote of a review online:

The atmosphere Von create is most unique and haunting. There are rarely more than a couple of riffs in a song. The guitars create a very hypnotic, droning, and almost ritualistic feel. The vocals are pretty unique also, a deep, bellowing, bark that echoes, it is how I would imagine Satan to sound. Sometimes they use a clean chant/echo (listen to the song Veinen) which sounds very eerie, like a ghost. The drumming is pretty monotonous, but that is commonplace in black metal, it is nothing extrodinary, but I could not imagine any other style of drumming that would fit the music. The blast beats just constantly are pummeling you in the face. The tempo, which is usually a constant onslaught of blast beats and chainsaw guitars, rarely changes.

The lyrics are one of my favorite parts. Im sure most people will just see them as cheesy and overly evil, but to me they just seem very mysterious and cryptic (admittedly, some of the lyrics are goofy). The song names are equally mysterious, with name like “Veinen”, “Watain”, “Veadtuck”, it just adds to the mystique that surrounds Von. The lyrics sound like they are straight out of some sort of dark ritual much of the time, which fits the music perfectly. They are kept very simple, with the exception of a couple of tracks. Here is an excerpt from the song Devil Pig to give you an idea of what the lyrics are like, “Shine tusk/Blood horns/Pentagram brand/Red screen”.

You’ll find this ugly atrocity here.

Best regards,
That Vulture