Going into this I did not know this was Fenriz from Darkthrone singing. I was wondering how the fuck did this band even get signed, they are honoring traditional metal like what Darkthrone has before, but the vocals sound like they are going for something similar to King Diamond. without the falsetto screams. Musically some simple riffs pay homage to the 80s in the right ways, though the vocals make things weird. Not the kind of music you think of coming out of Norway. I love King Diamond so when someone attempts anything in his Sonic zipcode, the warning lights go off since that bar is too high. They work best as a doomy thrash band, so just from the opening track, it's too soon to say where this can go, The vocals feel a little pitchy in places and some of the presentation hinges on the production that might have been done better to give them some reverb to cushion more extended notes.
Things are a little doomier on the title track. The vocals have not improved and I am surprised they made it to the final mix in their current state. The only reason Peaceville is releasing this is the Darkthrone connection. ?They do have some effective riffs in play, and the vocals do not ruin "Open the Gallows". It comes down to how picky you are about that sort of thing. Metal is a weird genre it has terrible singers and some of the best in the business, it depends on what you can make work. There are some Mercyful Fate moments in the riffing so perhaps they thought if Ghost can rip them off so can we. They have some cool ideas in play on the darker tone that "Eighty-Five and Seven Miles" makes the most of. The early thrash feel also haunts this song. This song has a cool riff, but the rule here is "cool riffs alone does not a good song make".
"Ceaseless Abandon" takes a very 1987 approach to things, and much of this reminds me of "A Night On Broken". Appolyon from Aura Noir also plays on this album, there is no lack of talent, I am not sure this is those talents being put to their best use. I like this sort of thing, as I am a big fan of the new Crypt Sermon, where this kind of thing is done much better. The last song "Clockwork Cult" feels like recycled 80s metal riffs with a touch of Slayer's mid-tempo, the vocals are bellowed with little thought of a hook, but it is true to some of the third-tier bands of this era. I will give this album a 7.5, if the pitchy vocals were mixed further back it might work better for me. If you just like third-tier 80s metal which I was not opposed to as a teen, then it might appeal to you.
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