Just catching up with albums that fell under my radar and this intense band out of Greece seems worth my time. They self-identify as black metal but feel like metallic hardcore to me until they lay on the tremolo picking. The bulk of the song is more deliberate and bleak, with the harsh vocals going back and forth from a high scream to a low growl. There is an even darker groove to the creeping second song, though the vocals stick to the lower growl of the first song.
Once we get to "Ghost" thanks to the chaotic screaming of the vocals that uses a pretty uniform approach to their feral phrasing, the songs begin to sound, the same though "Ghost" does attempt to justify, their claims of being a black metal band midway through as they go into a dissonant blast beat. Not that blast beats are what makes something black metal, but it does help to steer the sonic attack of the song in that direction. There is a very haunting quality to their sound, that makes this an interesting record even when it works off a similar pulse. 'Voidhanger" which works off a more angular riff. But the throaty howl of the vocals doesn't switch it up enough and it ends up being too similar to the other songs, even with the few dynamic nuances of the riff ebbing and flowing. There is also more blast beating which puts us at two of the first four songs having black metal elements.
So blackened hardcore might be what I am willing to call these guys. The last song is more sludgey in the throbbing drive it hits you with aside from being both dark and sonic it is not as intentional in its efforts to convince you they are blast metal as the accelerated tempo at the end, is intense, but doesn't;t feel black metal more like something Eyehategod might have done. I'll give this album an 8.5, if the vocals were more dynamic it might have helped the songwriting, but what they do is interesting enough for dark heavy music that touches on extreme elements.
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