Middle Kids : "Faith Crisis'

 

This Australian band is moving in a poppier direction, which is still effective as they are writing pop songs with a great deal of heart and thought invested in them. Unlike most actual pop artists, they do not have a team of producers and songwriters but hash things out as a band, with the guitar still at the forefront of what they are doing, though the sugar-coated vocals of Hannah Joy are pushed further into the spotlight. It is generally upbeat, though with introspective lyrics that are sometimes self-deprecating. The album is well produced and while sonically falling somewhere between HAIM and Boygenius, they are not quite as radio-ready as Haim even on more anthemic songs like "The Blessings", but this plays to their favor since most radio sucks. 

"Bootleg Firecracker" is not far removed from Taylor Swift's more organic moments, though Joy's vocal style is a little more indie folk here. She is not going for anthemic choruses either. There is a little more of a rock feel to "Highlands" The vocals are still really catchy, but the emphasis shifts a little toward the guitar riffs.  'Bend" finds Hannah strumming her way through what at first feels like a ballad until it gains more dynamic traction. The bass line to "Go to Sleep on Me" takes more prominence. When the guitar comes in it feels more like the Cure's poppier moments. There is an indie rock shuffle to "Terrible News ". They continue to prove themselves lyrically superior to the bulk of pop music with songs like "Philosophy". 

"Your Side Forever" is a little more of an honest and vulnerable take on pop.  The last song is more of a ballad, that sets the stage for a duet with Gang of Youth's David Le'aupepe, which works well enough for what it is for this album. Overall I will give this album a 9.5, and see how it sits with me, it is going to be hard to beat in terms of pop, and perhaps it's perfection will become clearer with more listens as it settles in with me, but a great replacement for the lack of new Haim.    

Faith Crisis Pt 1 by Middle Kids

pst39

Georgia Mooney : "Full of Moon"

 

 Australian singer Georgia Mooney feels like she fell from the cosmos of another time. There is a 60s pop feel combined with a dream pop-like atmosphere. Her delicate melodies are supple with each note gracefully ringing out.  Folk is also shown to be at the least an influence with the more soul-baring balladry of " I am Not in a Hurry". She continues to throw her voice around here. The airy nature of what she is doing with the song does not provide as much to sink your ears into and weaves more with sound than hooks. The Cocteau Twins might be a fair point of reference in this regard. "Break it Off" wanders into a piano-pop piece that sounds like it was written for Broadway with retro synths caressing it. But this also reminds me of where country music went in the 1970s. 

"Consider it a Gift" is the first song that brings Kate Bush to mind, though it's a more subtle lilt to the melodies that I keyed in on here, think more of "Lionheart" era. It's a high compliment for me to compare any singer to Kate Bush. Mooney is nowhere near as adventurous, though she clearly is able to convert a great span of stylistic ground. "What an Inconvenience" is a more emotionally invested exploration of her songwriting, as her voice lays more reflectively over the strum of acoustic guitar. While it is impressive that she can do more I think these more stripped-down moments prove that less is more. 

She marries the more theatrical Kate Bush moods with the 60's pop feel, which reminds me a little of the song "Them Heavy People".  Impressive as that is I feel " Winter Island" is a more authentic representation of who she is as a singer. "Nothing is Forever" finds her continuing to embrace folk, but with the odd vocal colors that make her approach to it more unique. The more fragile gleam of twilight is heard on "What'll I Do".  Her melodies do what the song requires, even if it does not ask her to go heavy on the hooks.  The closing song is another piano ballad that creates an effective mood but is not the strongest song. I will give this album a 9, as it is impressive what she does, and want to hear where her musical journey goes from this point. 

Witchskull : "the Serpent Tide"

I was really into this band's 2020 album "A Driftwood Cross ". Their newest effort starts off much heavier with a more driving chug empowering the opening track. The manic desperation in Marcus' vocal plea has renewed urgency , but a little more of an edge. There is a little more brooding and reflection on the second song. This carries over into "Sun Carver" which carries a darker shade of post-grunge in it's DNA. It might not even be intentional but it reminds me of metal bands from the mid 90s who were making a stylistic shift towards alt rock. Where does Alice In Chains end and the Electric Wizard influence begin, is not a bad problem to be faced with. 

It is clear that burly bass fuzz that helms the assaults of "Bornless Hollow" makes the band's metallic intentions clear. The guitars take it in a more sonic direction as it progresses, but this might be the biggest step in the doom direction this album has yet to take mood wise. The pace continues to pick up for "the Serving Ritual" until melting into a chaotic guitar solo. It doesn't strike me as being as hooky or memorable as the previous album, which might be the sacrifice of getting heavier. The title track gives the vocals more room to cry out from. This also places them closer to early Soundgarden. The vocals sit back more against the bigger wall of guitars they have throbbing this time around. 

"Misery's Horse" hammering at you with it's syncopated pound. The vocals are at times allowed to crack into more of a scream. I think it is however the groove of the last song that delivers the expectations placed by their last album in terms of song writing. While they bring what I wanted with this song, things might need to grow on me with other songs, so I will round this one down to a 9, still placing it head and shoulder above what most bands are capable of. I think these guys deserve more recognition and hopefully this album will place them into thm more firmly into the minds of mainstream metal heads,. 

Nocturnal Graves : "An Outlaw's Stand"

 

Falling somewhere on the more extreme end of the metal sphere, there are elements of both black and metal found in the aggressive attack of this Australian band.  Some of it drawing inspiration from the place in time when thrash collided with them at this dark crossroads. Thus, comparisons could be made to both Bathory and a more methed out version of Venom. For what this is the production is refined to create an organic raw sound paying homage to the late 80s when this sort of of thing first crawled up from the bowels of hell, while granting them a sonic place next to bands like Watain. The vocals are not as deliberate as Watain, the croak is more feral, and chaos runs a little wilder in the frenzy they attack their instruments with here. 

Not as familiar with their first three album it does feel like a more of an effort was made here in the song writing department. It makes sense former Destroyer 666 guitarist Shrapnel plays with these guys. Not as bullet belt metal as that band, they blend more closely with black metal bands. By the third song their straightforward attack finds a uniformity. The drumming is the most impressive element of the first three songs. They drop to more of a mid-paced death metal feel for " No Mercy For Weakness" which is certainly a sentiment I agree with.  I like this song but after this if things do not switch up dynamically, I will begin to get bored with the album. And as it happens the album begins to go downhill when such a change does not occur, and everything becomes a blur as the songs begin to sound the same. That is not to say a cool riff or two doesn't crop up on "Beyond the Flesh", however the rule around here is cool riffs alone does not a good song make. 

The last song takes a stab at the black metal side of their equation. There is also a touch of Morbid Angel like death metal in the rapid-fire darkness of melody hidden in the riffs. Most of the Morbidity lies in the phrasing of the vocals These guys are good at what they do. What they do just happens to be a void filled by other bands, who do this with more sonic colors. If you like your metal very cut and dry in your face with no questions asked, you are a simpler man than I , though you will also enjoy this more than I did. I got bored in a few places but overall found this to be well produced, performed and entertaining for the listens I gave it so I will give this an 8.5   

Devil Electric : " Godless"

 

This Australian band is back with more swagger and attitude. Less metallic in its intentions they have come to boogie down this time around. The use a more blues-based musing when venturing into the darker corners of their sound that owe more to the Doors this time around than Black Sabbath. When the songs give her the room to weave her youthfully belted alto into less obvious melodies that this band is at it's most powerful. There is a harder edge to the dynamics, but this ballsy tone is heavy in attitude and not metal.  When they charge forward with more drive like on the title track it meets at the crossroads where metal was separating itself from rock music in the 70s. 

There is a darker heavier mood on "I Am ". Her voice is very consistent, dynamically not huge shifts in the vocal colors she paints the songs with but makes use of very subtle hooks. You can hear metal influence like on the tense chug of this song. Clean guitar tones appear on " I Will be Forgotten". It is more of a calm before the storm as the drums kick it up into Zeppelin like groove. The lyrics to this song being the first to make me take notice. The sultry nature of her voice offers some punch to her delivery on this song. There is also a really interesting break down in this song. The groove is a little more complex on "Mindset" as the drums play around before the the Pat Benatar like chug takes over the verses.   

There is a little more attack to "Take the Edge Off' where is more of a Runaways styled rock anthem. The palm muted grooves on the verses are cool.  Things then get darker going into "Your Guess is as Good as Mine". Not the album's hookiest song, but I can appreciate what they trying to do here. I will give this one a 9, it's another solid step into solidifying their voice and proves they are not trying to put out the same album twice. 

3

Burn In Hell : "DISAVOWAL OF THE CREATOR GOD"

Yes another heavy as fuck band to give Ruin and LLNN a run for their money. These guys have more in common with the latter. Austrailia is not the first place I think of when it comes to heavy music. But the hard core crunch of these guys which is thrown again a crusty storm of death metal is pretty convincing. Only one song breaks the three minute mark and it only does so by five seconds. The second song delivers a brutal beating to your ears but at first it feels like a continuation of the first song so dynamics and the finer points of songwriting could be lost do to the focus on brutality which is where they differ than the first two bands I mentioned who are also excellent songwriters even as heavy as they are. 

Yes "Bleach" has one of the heaviest break downs  you will hear all year, but the rule at this site is "cool riffs alone does not a good song make". The minute and a half of noise against samples that is called "Prey" does not do anything to support their case. In more of a grind core fashion they blast back for the minute long temper tantrum called "Deadkkkop". Clever song title but appropriating the problems of the American political machine makes them come across like poseurs. "Disavowal' is the longest song I mentioned earlier. Their is a more deliberate change of tempo and a little more room to breathe, which helps create dynamics that are desperately needed at this point. The growl of the vocals begins to get a little old by the point as well.   

There is more of a sense of sonics to "Armageddon" which is what this album needed more of all along as it might be the best song on the album as it is also the most musical even if it is more hammering than the previous song. I will round this down to an 8, as the hype exceeded what they delivered as whole, which is not to say they do not have potential and there were 3 songs that were worth hearing again, though they could stand to expand on some of the sonic touches they brought to life on the last song. If you care more about being brutal than songwriting them you are going to like this more than I did. 

 

Death is June -Temple Nightside : " Pillars of Damnation"

This band came out of the Austrailian black metal scene. Why it ends up being more death metal. Egregor is a word I mention frequently when it comes to what music comes from what regio, It means the collective group mind. Here the mind is ancestoral . There is a black metal feel to this brand of dark and dirty death metal, but it happens in a very organic manner. It also makes me realize what an influence Incantation had on black metal. We are four albums deep here so these guys know what they are doing. "Death Eucharist" charges ahead full speed, but even with the blasting I had high hopes for the stage they set. They certainly have a sound. But how does this sound translate into songs. That takes a little more planning than they ended up investing. This second listen through to this album makes it more apparent.

I do not condone the torture of animals. Yet what I imagine to be a similar sound comes from the chaos of the third song. Song is a loose use of the word when referring to what goes on. You might be eager to defend a band that is heavy for the sake of heavy. You should also kill yourself/.  I love eavy music. I have devoted a month of my life to listening to death metal. There is also another month devoted to black metal and another still to doom. Give me any death metal album that has stood the test of time and I can sing to you the songs no matter how brutal they are as they can be conveyed in a manner than is memorable. Nothing is memorable about some of the snarling tantrums recorded here. Some whispering leads into the buzz saw guitar of "the Carrion Veil". The mood is rather grim. I can endorse the mood. But can I endorse the song?

"Wreathed in Agony" has more melody to the creeping guitar making it more of a memorable moment. When they step on the gas for the tremolo death metal standard charge into battle , it fades into background music as the buzz all runs together. The whispered vocals help break things up a little going into "In Absentia". Falling into a caven is cool. But it can not be the only key to your sound.  The last sound sounds spooky and ominous, but barely held together with melody to make it a song. I will round this album down to a 7.5, I think the reasons are clear enough .This album comes out August 7th if any one thinks they are going to live that long.

Iron BoneHead Productions · Temple Nightside - Death Eucharist

Caligula's Horse : " Rise Radiant"

 Progressive metal often creates it's own hurdle. Tangled up in shreddy noodles or making grandiose anthems that sound like Journey with a more metal guitar sound. The  fifth album by this Austrailian band finds them only flirting with these tropes , but also care about song writing. They are not entrenched with the 80s elements bands like Dream Theater get caught up in. There is little Queensryche about these guys. This plays both for and against them as Queensyrche might be darker .  The opening track really had them off to a good start with a balance that worked. Heavy enough despite the gymnastics and the melodic vocals urgent and vital to the song rather than just soaring with the sonic somersaults. It took a second listen for the tricky math groove of " Slow Violence" to connect with me.


"Salt" also grows on me more with an additional listen, but even then it is not as tightly coiled as the first two songs. Yes there are quirky time signatures that veer from what we expect from rock music, so they progressive in that sense.  Things begin to mellow at this point in the album. I like some mellow prog metal... Dredg comes to mind., However when they dip into ballads it is darker and more introspective where they are getting kind of sappy on "Resonate". Of course this album is well produced. Kind of comes with the genre. The vocals step it up on "Ocean Rise" and work against the guitar in the best way possible. The song dials up the grit from where they were at so that is a plus. They get back to a more exotic and metal version of the slinky math they were doing on the second song with "Valkyrie". They have packed more guitar solos for this one.  They drift back toward power ballads for  'Autumn" . They do a good job building it up and allow it to lead right into the heavier " the Ascent".  If you like prog metal this is going to be the song you were waiting for. There are a few Tool like moments, without being a tribute .

The two cover songs that close out the album might be bonus tracks but I am going to count them for the purpose of this review as they are worth mentioning and on the version I have. They do a solid version of "Don't Give Up" . The chick they got for Kate Bush's part , gets the job done.  The Split Enz cover is an odder choice.  I will give this album a 9 and see how it grows on me.

Witchskull ; " a Driftwood Cross"

" This Silent Place" was the first song I heard from this Australian stoner doom outfit. It has an upbeat jangle to it that reminds me more of Kyuss than the kind of Sabbath worship that normally dominates the genre. When I pressed play and got the "Children of the Grave" styled gallop that came , I was a little disappointed. This disappointment was balanced by the unique nature of the singer voice. It is possessed by a odd quivering vibrato. His voice is high and piercing yet still has balls to it. Yob's use of vocals is a fair comparison in how it counter balances the beefy pump of fuzzed out guitar., Less manically aggressive than Yob, these guys are a more straight forward affair. They do have a very sonic sound when they build momentum. The dark atmosphere to what they do tips them in more of a doom direction. There is more groove and pounding to the second song. At first listen the way it comes out of the opener made it feel like dynamic shift in the first song. After multiple listens it does hold it's own.

"Red Altar" is more deliberate and Sabbath like. It has a call response with the more gritty distorted kick. The vocals are also more emotive on this one. The guitar solos are not wasted flash but work off the melodic themes of the song. The female vocals that wail during the build up at first sounded like a Uriah Heap like falsetto to me until I listened more closely. Production wise this has a huge juggernaut wall of guitars . The gallops are very commanding. This is the band's 3rd album so they obviously know what they are going for. The moments where they ebb down from this sound into darker more melodic sections are more impressive to me. They do ride a mean chug on "  March of Winter" . The aggression versus melody margin reminds me of Only Living Witness. With songs like "Nero Order" you can hear how their influences go beyond your typical descendants of Sabbath.

The use some restraint on the title track that closes the album. This one is driven by a more 90s styled groove. I will round this one up to a 9.5, it has enough groove and dynamics to hook you in. The melodies are well constructed and I can see myself getting multiple listens from this one. If you like doom that doesn't crawl but rumbles with groove and melodies then this album is for you . Was released on Rise Above Records.

Northlane : "Alien"

This band from Australia plays a version of  metal core with electronic elements that are blended in a pretty interesting manner as they morph with the drum kit. The vocal are screamed for this song.The guitar  has traces of djenty Meshuggah worship in the tone and the way it thumps. The second has melodic sung vocals on the verse and then the screamed vocals join in for the build up. The electronic atmosphere is still haunting this song though not as prevalent. on the 3rd song there is a Linkin Park element that I am kinda tuning out and the novelty of what they do is beginning to wear thin. "Talking Heads" doesn't do much original until it comes to the chorus with the sung vocals, but this is not far from a great deal of the Myspace metal. "Freefall" has an interesting riff, before breaking down in the sung vocal and the bass player takes over.

I space out and check back in on "Eclipse". An album has to hold my attention for me to consider it good. This one has it's moments. "Rift" is a more ballad like electronic song . It does has some movement and the synths on this one actually are what gives it an edge, which is a twist on their normal formula. They are not afraid to experiment which is one of their better qualities. You can not say all the songs sound the same. It is however an example of how experimental doesn't always mean original.  I had to give "Paradigm" another listen. There are poppy elements that build into their more crunchy screaming metal. In ways these guys remind me of a heavier version of 30 Seconds to Mars. Much like that band, how good they are varies from song to song. "Vultures" find them getting heavy in a more djenty way. Heavy does not always mean better. I think when they get heavy they have a tendency to lose sight of their more unique qualities.

"Sleepless" works off of their more ballad like pop qualities with little bursts of their more aggressive side. I will give this album a 7. If you are already a fan of this band, then this kind of super slick and produced chunky pop metal is your thing. I think it might not be the thing for the bulk of the readers here who tend to lean more in the doom or black metal direction. But if you like mainstream metal it is certainly worth a listen as it is well done. What is being done well is just not the kind of music I am into.

Illrya : "Carpathian Summit"

If you blended Deafheaven with Between the Buried and me the results would be similar to this band. Less post rock and more metallic than Deafheaven for sure. The guitars drone less and create more intricate patterns . The sung vocals are more Myspace metal. Emo without being whiny. If you think these guys are black metal, then you must not know anything about black metal. First and foremost they are not very dark. They are interesting in some of the groove they create. They car about their songs. More influenced by hard core than black metal for sure. Things get much more melodic going into "Autumn Fades Away" which is almost a ballad. Four minutes in and they come closer to black metal than they have thus far.

"Echo 2" confirms my hard core suspicions. Musically they are more adventurous than your average hard core band. There is touch of math rock in their progressive leanings. 'the Second Day of Spring" blew right past me. It has more of a post rock indie rock clean jangle. In the final minute the song does build up much like the one before it, so a formula is in place despite their more progressive side. "Swansong" remains interesting even with the Deafheavn vocals. The song after this decides why stop with a goof thing and sounds like "Swansong" did not end . That is until the blat beats , which are no more black metal than Deafheaven's most recent album, which is none. The title track is a 13 minute power ballad that is one of the album's most progressive songs. The screaming does come in midway through. The bass player really proves their chops on this one.

"the Final Bastion" is a more straight forward stab at what they do that leans more into the metal side. The last song finds them delving deeper into their emo side. The bass player provides a often jazzy bass line. When the harsh vocals come in they are lower and more death metal which is a welcome change. I will give this album an 8.5. It runs the gambit from post-metal, to emo to progressive , if you like Myspace era bands but also like Deafheaven then this is for you. It is not something I Would lidten to on a regular basis, but i can not deny how well done this is, so I will give it an 8.5
8.5

Advent Sorrow : " Kali Yuga Crown"

 I know I do not cover black metal as much as I used to. It is not because I like it any less. It is because it has all started to sound the same. I do hunt for something that is different. I want something that is darker and more melancholy. This band from Perth hits both of those marks and the album does not sound like it was recorded in a closet. It is not too blast beat heavy. The vocals are varied snarls, sort like what Shining used to do many moons ago. They are no content with doing just one thing. There is more of a black n roll feel to the second song. But it is more Lifelover than Darkthrone. The buzz of "Spearhead"s' guitar kinda blends in with everything. They are more deliberate than most black metal bands but this doesn't grab me as much as the first two songs despite the sung vocals that eventually come in.

Even when I begin to not pays as close of attention as I did at first I am still present enough to hear some interesting layers of guitar are being used. The vocals are just crazy howls at this point. The sung vocals tend to come in toward the end of the songs. So they are beginning to settle into a formula. "Pestilence Shall Come"  reminds me more of Urfaust. I check back in more attentively due to the more menacing darkness summoned on "Caesar" . It has a more sinister pulse. "Wells of Poison Water " has a much needed dynamic shift as it opens with clean guitar. The more metallic aspect of it blends in with what they have been doing the bulk of the album. The guitar gain a great deal of heft when in a powerful chug. " Majesty Enthroned" is more feral. The vocals have pretty much lashed out the entire album. Here the rest of the band joins in. The problem being it  causes them to sound like everyone else. It does slow down midway into the song, but it's brief and too little too late. 

They return to their sweet spot on "With Conviction" finds them closer to their sweet spot , but not as much as the last song. The harsh vocals eventually become an annoyance as they use such similar patterns. The lower vocals are much more welcome when they arrive here. The guitars lock into a nice drone here.I will round this album to an 8. It gets off to a great start and gets bogged down in adhering to some of the tired black metal tropes. However this does work well when they are more expeimental and flirt with a more depressive sound.

Obed Marsh : "Dunwich"

If you want to hear death doom done really fucking right so that it's more doom and not just slow death metal, then check out this mean mother fucker. From Australia , their previous album "Innsmouth" had some gnarly spewed vocals this one has out done that performance in the first two songs alone. Some of this might be thanks to the attention to detail in the production this time around. The guitars have a more angular dissonance to them which also helps paint this unnerving picture. There are some interludes that I am just deleting as I go so for the sake of this review we are only counting the songs. The first two songs do have a similar sound. Like many extreme metal bands , after the first stunning blow they hit you with wears off then it boils down to song writing. "Necornomicon" ...which if you had not caught on this is a Lovecraft themed band, give you more breathing room and a melody of sorts begins to drip from the shadows.

 Things stay just as dark and get more melodic as the chords are allowed to ring out more on "Wreathed in Ivy"as the song builds momentum some guitar melodies do float out to give it more substance. "Matricidal Lineage" is dense and throbs with a heavy pulse but doesn't do a hell of a lot to set it self aside as a song. Their sound is good. If might even feel evil it gets so dark. They need to do a lot more in order to keep my interest for the almost 13 minute closing song " the Dunwich Horror" . It takes three and a half minutes to really get this one started. As the album progress I notice the vocals take on more of a snarl and less of an anguished growl to allow the lyrics to become more discernible. It does find them locking into a similar feel.

I would say the songs on "Innsmouth" might have been written a little better, but this album sounds better and finds them adding more atmospheric layers, though the songs do being to develop a more uniform sound by the end. I'll give this an 8.5 and see how it sits with me.

Grave Upheaval : "Untitled"

This might be the year of death doom, if my in-box is any indication of what is to come this year. I have several death doom albums that have been in a holding pattern during Black Metal History Month. This Australian band has a hint of black metal to the bursts of blast beats they go into and the vocals are not just low death grunts. Instead they are ghostly gasp and throaty whispers. This band was getting a bunch of hype on the inner webs. So clearly I had my interest peaked to see if it lives up to the hype.It is very dark and more atmospheric than I was expecting going into this. There is a very loose chaos to the actual song writing. This makes the challenge for the band are they able to hold my interest with hellish sounds long enough to compensate.

Not only is he album not titled , but the songs aren't either. The third song starts with blast beats up front. Some of the demonic vocals sound more hellish at certain points. When every thing comes together it is to form a doom lumber. There is a higher King Diamond like whine that comes out of the darkness. The song doesn't really go anywhere, except to offer lingering chugged break downs.It is not until the final minute of the fourth song that it really comes together. So writing actual songs rather than making cool sounds seems to be the challenge here. This is the band's second full length so maybe this is a sophomore slump. The fifth song comes together sooner , but the vocals drift around the guitars and it feels kind of ponderous three minutes in, making me wonder how I am going to sit through the next six minutes.

To the band's credit there is a great deal of originality in what they do. When they play a guitar solo it doesn't fit into the mold of your typical metal solo. They do conform sometimes when it comes to how they approach the blasts of death metal. The vocals which are more on the doom side if we are going to keep score help balance this out. The six song finds them locking more solidly into death metal. But rather than a band like Incantation where something hooks you into it, its like riding a roller coaster through a haunted house. Even though I began to let the 7th song fade into the background, it is one of the more solidly written songs. At this point the novelty of their sound wears thin and it brings me to the question all extreme metal bands must answer..."Ok you are heavy, but can you write an actual song?"

The last song proves my point though it feels more black metal to me in the way that it drones. These guys at their best touch on that place where what was dubbed "occult death metal" met at the cross roads of funeral doom. When they blast off the vocals could stand to conform slightly in order to bolster what is going on, but this is one of the album's better songs. In some ways I guess I need to retrain my brain what to expect when I listen to these guys. However writing songs might help their case as well. I'll give this album a 7, they get most of their points for the mood they create. This comes out April 15th on Nuclear War Now.

Black Metal History Month-Looking Back in Anger at Destroyer 666 's "Unchain the Wolves"

The first full length after coming from Bestial Warlust there is a darker sound than what we have heard from the band's more recent effort. The vocals are harsher and a more feral hatred possesses their rasp. They are more black metal than death metal and and over all more sinister mood hangs over what is being done here. They are not blazing fast but have a very determined march to the tempo.  For 1997 this is pretty fucking heavy. The mainstream metal world at the time was pretty distracted by nu-metal at the time this was released. In America hard-core was also on the rise which would later lead to Myspace Metal.

The Venom school of thrash that is similar to where the band is now , was also present here. As is the brand of thrash that has more in common with early Slayer. There is even a more pagan gallop of "Tyranny of the Inevitable". The vocals take on a lower croak here. The guitars are not as blazing on this album, making me wonder if they developed more of a coke problem later on. Sometimes the vocals here feel a little more though out than others. There is a more black metal feel to the blasting of "Six Curses of a Spiritual Wasteland". The vocals might be the best part of this song. The drums and the guitars seem to be playing against one another. I am also a fan of getting drunk on the blood of angels. the strangeness begins to creep in on "Rome Wasn't Destroyed in a Day / Unchain the Wolves" as it starts off with synth strings creating atmosphere around a spoken word drone. Once it kicks in it's more punk rock in the song's attack. It goes into a slower gallop and the mix provides enough atmospheric effects to keep things surreal.

The last actual song is "Damnation's Pride". The vocals once again take on more of a croak here. Musically it's pretty straight forward. The drums are the least interesting element to this song.  I'll give this album an 8.5, it's pretty solid with interesting production choices. I like the fact it's darker than their current song even if it's not a catchy.