PEACEVILLE
James McBain’s Hellripper is the best one-man blackened thrash band since Midnight. His third record, Warlocks Grim &Withered Hags, trounced peers again with more grotesque odes to the Devil and other deities, this time steeped heavy in Scottish folklore. The result was more black metal-oriented without dumping the fun; Goat Vomit Nightmare was a riot indebted to Maiden more than Mayhem, there was enough Motörhead to perforate your septum, and the title track’s bagpipes were genuinely stirring. All hail the goat.