Even though they have released the demo Triumph of Death in 2007, Slecht still has the right to be heard and reviewed. This Belgian band was formed by the end of 2003, when JC (vocals) and JVDB (guitars) decided to start producing minimalistic black metal. A while after, they found a suitable drummer and the first official recordings took place. In 2005 the band released a rehearsal tape which was limited to 30 copies.

Slecht claims they used the Flemish medieval painter Pieter Breughel the Elder as their inspiration for the lyrics on Triumph of Death. After doing a little research, I found out that this painter was a Catholic, but one who criticised the religious persecution in his work. The painting Triumph of Death by Pieter Breughel the Elder shows a landscape of death: an army of skeletons attacks the humans, who either fight back or try to flee. People are being killed by the skeletons in a number of ways: drowning, slitting their throats and even being hunted by skeleton dogs. The lyrics on Triumph of Death are mainly about ‘the end coming near’ and ‘humans not deserving to live on earth’.

Now, let’s not forget about the music itself. Raw, minimalistic black metal is what Slecht stands for. Regrettably, the production is minimalistic as well, even though that was probably the intention. The tones are sharp and the songs have a typical rough dark sound, which reminds me of old school black metal. This is a band, which seems to not care for the styles in black metal which are successful nowadays. Slecht walks its own path and, even though I’m more of a good production kind of girl, they do it well.