Black Metal History Month - Vincent Crowley : "Anthology Of Horror"

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 When it comes to early black metal bands Acheron gets overlooked all too often. Their 1991 album "Rites of the Black Mass" is an underrated classic. They are also one of the few bands who are actually Satanists, and Peter Gilmore played synths for the band at one point. Now his solo work finds Vincent Crowley in more of a horror mood, with darker more focused songs, that hold a narrative not unlike what King Diamond does. Unlike King Diamond, Crowley uses growled vocals and makes no attempts to actually sing. The songs are more deliberate than death metal and seem more focused on painting dark pictures than just an outlet for aggression making them more of a black metal band. 

"That Which Lurks Below the Sea" has an interesting atmospheric interlude in the middle that creates a great solo break. This guitarist is highly skilled at creating modo and not just shredding. "Under the Hanging Tree" is darker and more melodic. Crowley uses his voice to create phrasing in a song, much like an actual singer would, but growling with a dynamic range rather than singing actual notes. His style is articulate enough for the lyrics to create a fleshed-out narrative for the songs that makes the lyrics take center stage. We might think of the middle ground this occupies in terms of intensity as classic metal when it really just boils down to being a good songwriter and not trying to create a heavy sound to compensate for the lack of songwriting smarts. 

Things speed up for "Nowhere to Hyde". It is not as engaging as the first three songs, but there is some impressive guitar work going down. The same can almost be said for "Blood Moon Lycanthropy" but it has a little more in the way of melodic dynamics when it comes to the guitars. The more deliberate gloom of "Gods of Crimson Cullings" finds the vocals creating more urgency to the flow of the song. This is when all the pieces of the project fall into place just right.  'Coupe de Poudre" is a thrashing zombie tale, that falls back on the voodoo origins of zombies that are forgotten these days. He continues down the voodoo with "Madame Laveau". It is less thrashes less and moves with a doomier march.  They cover King Diamond's "Killer" from "the Spider's Lullabye" album. While I give them credit for covering a King Diamond, Crowley's style of vocalization does not come close to doing it justice. I will give this album a 9, it';s very impressive and I will see how it grows on me. 

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