It only makes sense to start off things with a band from Norway. They are checking off all the common tropes of the genre, though there is more of a punkish rock energy to how they are banging things out here that owes more to Venom than Darkthrone. Not that at times Darkthrone themselves have not displayed plenty of Venom influence in their more black-roll eras. This is more than likely the only band like this I am going to review this month as the raw lo-fi production brings a charm that is not normally my thing. If the entire album is as straightforward as the first song I will grow bored with it.
There is more of a "Show No Mercy" feel to the second song. I grew up with this period of Slayer as a teenager, if I want to hear 'Captor of Sin" well I already own that album. By the time I get to "Scythewielder," it's all starting to sound the same to me. To this band's credit they are attempting to write songs and not just hitting your ears with a blur of blast beats so that is worth something in my book, at least worth enough for me to keep listening. If a more polished recording the nuance of the drums might stand out but this is what we are working with. The title track opens in a darker more dramatic fashion, but it feels like the vocals hold more purpose on "Death's Mordant Blaze". This might be the album's best song so far.
To be fair this album is a lot better than I thought it was going to be after the first song. I like how the chords ring out in "Empyrean Graves" They balance things out here with an atmosphere that creates a convincing darkness. The album closes with the more thrashing "Wherein the Devil Dwells", the scowl of the vocals, becomes more of an accent than the purpose they held in some of the previous songs. I'll give this one an 8.5, it was a pleasant surprise, not something that is likely to work its way into my regular rotation, for someone who normally is not as into this kind of black metal, these guys won me over.This is dropping on Signal Rex.
pst47
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