Spite : "the Third Temple"

 The guitars have a cleaner tone than the buzzing razor-sharp distortion that coats the tremolo-picked riffs of most black metal bands. There are some thrashy stomps on the second song, but the big takeaway here is this is not just a blast fest, but this guy cares about writing songs so even the rasped vocals fall over the riffs with a great deal of purpose. "Under the Wings of the Cherubim" finds more speed being poured one which tends to lean more in the direction of what you typically expect from black metal these days and the first two songs prove this project is capable of more. 

"Yahweh's Vengence" works off of a hooky more death metal-like riff, that proves to be very effective. It works better than "Desert Demons" which follows it as it does not revert back to blast beats to break up the song, so the riffs do not become a mush of sound. "Hounds of Hatred" cranks by with a wrathful attitude. Nothing latches onto me from it, becomes more background music. "Spoils of Judea" is a little more intentional, and has more of a thrashing swing to it, but falls short of taking the kind of chances heard in the first few songs. 

"Where Dust Cannot Fall" is the first song where I had to go back and give another listen as it just kind of faded into the background and I stopped paying as close attention. It's pretty middle-of-the-road black metal, the vocals begin to lose their flare at this point in the album and begin to get a little redundant. "The Black Moon" continues to find the album heading in a more straightforward black metal direction even with the melodic themes in the riffing. There is a little more thrash in the veins of "the Stone of Sakrah. It carries an angular groove, and the bass comes forward in the mix to give a little more of a backbone, anytime you can hear the bass in black metal I am a fan.

"The Dark Ark" is darker and carries more purpose, making it a catchier song. There is also a darker undercurrent to the last song, but it is less purposeful, in fact, the drumming is pretty chaotic, thus leading the song all over the place. I will give this album an 8.5, they sometimes take more chances than your average black metal bands, then conform the rest of the time, but pull everything off in a way that works. This is unleashed by Invictus Productions on September 27th. 

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Head of the Demon : "Deadly Black Doom"

I wish blackened doom would have more. The results of what takes place with this Swedish band falls in line as what a more creepy version of Celtic Frost might sound like. The biggest difference from Celtic Frost being the guitar tone which is cleaner and not employing much of the more thrash like chug The first two song the vocals are barked in a coarse grunt . The opener is slower and the chords rings out , where the second song finds the riff slithering. It is an interesting take on doom as it has little to owe Sabbath. The guitars have the cold sound of black metal about them along with an eerie dissonance. The way the lyrics are spat out in the second song is not as interesting as their more novel delivery on the first. I think they are so one dimensional that hearing them executed in this fashion for more than two songs would be tiresome. The guitar uses more exotic Hungarian minor phrasing in the second song and some of the punches remind me of Mercyful Fate.

"En to Pan" sounds like if you did a mash up with the guitar more "Mother" and slapped it against "Don't Fear the Reaper".  Two great songs and I can respect this more because while music is not created within a vacuum, it's better than just ripping off one song.  The vocals are marginally more sung . The first word of the phrase song the rest kinda growled sort of thing.  They go into more of a death metal growl on "Set Sutekh". The riff to this one is more winding and hypnotic. More uptempo when it builds as what I normally think of as doom, but still pretty decent song. Perhaps not as original sounding as the first few songs. As the album progresses I do appreciate this more 60s rock guitar tone. It keeps them from sounding like every other metal band. There is a darker mood to "St. Cyprian" . There are some AC/DC like punches in the song that gives more weight to the rock influence. The vocals change again to a low baritone. They do not forsake the grunted vocal altogether.

"Voidsoul" finds it's chords picked out with more of a haunting western feel. The more distorted power chord parts when they do hit have a more rock feel to them. The drumming here is the most doom thing about this song, though the guitars are very deliberate like " Hells Bells".  I can deal with a doom band that is more influenced by AC/DC than Sabbath, not something I hear every day and I hear a lot of music every day. The vocal are back to the grunts, but they play even less of a role in the song than they did in the previous song. The more chanted sung vocal feel returns toward the end of the song. I will give this one an 8. I think the vocals are kind of the weak link, if they had been more compelling then I might be inclined to give this one more repeat listens . However I have enjoyed the time I have spent with this one . If you like black metal and looking for a different spin on doom these guys are onto something. Being released May 1st on Invictus Productions.

Black Metal History Month - Sacrilegia : "The Triclavian Advent"

According to their press release, this might be the Irish band's debut album, but they have been around for decades. The opening song is more blistering and thrashy. They are really racing where later in the album they begin to sound more like a speeded out version of Venom. The vocals are a low anguished growl , almost bordering more on death metal. The faster moments on the album all begin to run together , I as on the opening track and don't hear something that catches my ear til the 5th song. Going back to give another listen it's evident that while I like when Destroyer 666 does something in this zip code , they have more elements of classic metal in play and the songs catch my ear rather than blaze past it. Some times it slows down like a dramatic break down, but it conflicts with the rule here which is cool riffs alone does not a good song make.

This leaves "Armored Angel" as they only song that really connects and demands multiple listens. While they do not rely on blast beats alone , the fast drumming has the more punk influenced slant. With "Unhallowed" The vocals are not as interesting  as they were on the previous song, but better than the other songs on the album.If you were going to say this band is from Ireland, it would not be the first place I would have thought. Not that band's from Ireland have to sound like Primordial, but they do tend to be darker. They way the vocals fall on "Unheeded Warnings" sticks with you better than some of the other barking despite the guitar that was so fast it felt just like a static trembling. This is not the best mixed album , but it's not cvlt lo fi either.

There is more of a thrash feel to the last song. The blinding guitars are more black metal, but this is more aggression than atmosphere and anger is the only frequency I hear. As an instrumental under two minutes this is more of a outro than a song that stands on it's own.  I'll round this down to a 6, if just angry speed is your thing you might like it more than I did. Not sure why it took them decades to come out with this . This album comes out April 12th via Invictus Productions.

Naddred : "Sluagh"

What I am asking of black metal bands in 2017 is to show me more than just blast beats. I want the tremolo picking to only be one color of blackness used. What is the point of just falling in line with the rest of the corpse painted sheep ? Naddred does a pretty decent job of not just becoming another face in the shadows , but giving the dark side it's due. Hailing from Ireland the production can be uneven in places and the vocals fall in line with your typical scowling rasp. The drum sound is the roughest factor, but guitar sounds great if not a tad like Inquisition. For what this is the opener is pretty solid writhing it's way around you rather than numbing you with a droned blitz. The title track finds the guitar keeping a decent balance of ugliness and atmosphere ringing out and this could be because they know they do not have to rely on speed alone.

At times you can hear a more death metal undertone to the guitar on "the Beast Who Walks the Earth" . Aside from being more mid paced and having a more deliberate throb, nothing really sets this apart from what I already got from the last Inquisition album, which has a bigger sound to it. The main difference is the vocals are not in a monotone croak.The last song rather than bring things to a climax that might pull me in just kinda breezed by. These guys are good at what they do, what they do I get in better doses from Inquisition. This is not to say they are ripping them off, but it is a sound that I already have in my iPod. This album is decent , I'll give it a 7.5, perhaps it might grow on me if I were to give it time, but I hear so much black metal that is just alright or gets the job done that what I want from the genre I consider to be one of my favorites is something with more passion and urgency that I have not heard before or at least a take on what is familiar with more of their own thumb print.


This album is being released February 13th by Invictus Productions

2.3