Judas Iscariot

Essentially a one-man project masterminded by American multi-instrumentalist Akhenaton, Judas Iscariot was formed in 1992 for the purpose of creating misanthropic black metal in the ultra-primitive vein of Norway's Darkthrone. Given to wearing the style's requisite corpse paint and black robes, Akhenaton also ensured that Judas Iscariot's debut album, 1995's The Cold Earth Slept Below come equipped with fittingly bleak, black-and-white artwork depicting the desolate winter vistas of..Illinois? Like-themed follow-up efforts such as Thy Dying Light (1996), Of Great Eternity (1997), Heaven in Flames (1999), Dethroned, Conquered and Forgotten (2000), and To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding (2002), were interspersed with countless EP's and mini-CD's of varying quality. But, if nothing else, Judas Iscariot deserves credit for his dedicated and unswerving vision, as well as for astoundingly long-winded and entertaining song titles like "Where Eagles Cry and Vultures Laugh," "Helpless It Lay, Like a Worm in His Frozen Track," and "Benevolent Whore Dethroned for Eternity."