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Tuesday 24 March 2020

Reviews: Rotting Kingdom, Sky Valley Mistress, Vulcano, Fool's Ghost (Paul S & Rich)

Rotting Kingdom: A Deeper Shade Of Sorrow (Boris Records) [Paul Scoble]

Death/Doom is a sub-genre that has been producing some really impressive albums over the last few years. Officium Triste’s last album was stunning, The Drowning’s Radiant Dark, released at the end of last year, is widely regarded as a masterpiece. So it must be a little daunting to be a new Death/Doom band, and to be releasing your first album. If Rotting Kingdom were a little nervous releasing A Deeper Shade Of Sorrow, it would be totally understandable. However, they don’t need to be nervous, as A Deeper Shade Of Sorrow is a great album.

Rotting Kingdom have been making music since 2016. The five piece from Lexington, Kentucky have released 1 self titled EP in 2017, before this album. The album opens with Sculpted Into Life By The Hand Of Death, which has a very big, powerful opening, taking us into some very enjoyable mid paced death/doom. It’s full of melody and has some very effective harsh vocals. The song also boasts a section that has clean guitar and feels a little post metal. The track builds back up from this quieter section to the huge feeling of the songs opening. Next comes Barren Harvest which is melodic, but slower than the track that preceded it. The song is deeply tuneful, it’s a sad, mournful melody, but it’s very effective and fits perfectly. This track also boasts a softer, clean part, but in this case it has more of a gothic feel to it.

Decrepit Elegance is a short instrumental that is acts as an introduction to the next track; Absolute Ruin. Absolute Ruin is fast, aggressive and pounding at the beginning, before slowing down to some ultra heavy Bolt Thrower style death metal. The track presses the accelerator again, and we are back in fast and pounding territory again, with maybe a little bit of punk in some of the riffing. The song ends with a section that has a Blackened Doom feel to it. The Antechambers Of Eternity has a brooding spookily gothic opening, before some crushingly powerful riffs come crashing in, with those very effective harsh vocals. There is a nice Post Metal part with clean guitar, before building back the heavy for a great ending section that absolutely drips melody.

The album comes to an end with the title track; A Deeper Shade Of Sorrow. This track has bit more swagger and groove in it. It’s got a little bit of a Black and Roll sense maybe a little reminiscent of Vreid. The track has a cracking driving tempo that is perfect for headbanging, and there is a little traditional metal in there as well. It’s a slightly different feel to the rest of the album, but it works very well as a closing track, and although a little different, still feels right, and isn’t out of place. A Deeper Shade Of Sorrow is a cracking album. The fact that it is the band's first, is very impressive. It’s full of huge riffs, great tunes and melodies that stick in your head. Death/Doom fans have another great album to get excited about. 8/10

Sky Valley Mistress: Faithless Rituals (New Heavy Sounds) [Rich Oliver]

Faithless Rituals is the debut album from Lancashire rockers Sky Valley Mistress. Following a chance encounter with Dave Catching (Eagles Of Death Metal, Queens Of The Stone Age) the band had an opportunity to record this album at his Rancho de la Luna Studio in California. Dave himself kicks off the album with a monologue before the rocking kicks off. Sky Valley Mistress perform a heady mix of stoner rock, hard rock and the desert rock that is the namesake of the band being named after the classic Kyuss album Welcome To Sky Valley. It’s a high octane album with punchy riffs, plenty of groove and bags of hard rock swagger. Songs such as Punk Song and Skull & Pistons deliver the rocking goods whilst songs such as It Won’t Stop and Blue Desert have a far more bluesy and relaxed sound to them. This band have been slogging it for years in the live circuit making a name for themselves in the North of England and this album has been a long time coming for their fanbase. It’s a sound and style that has been done by countless bands over the years but there is no denying that Sky Valley MIstress do it with brilliant style and it has hard not to be won over. A grooving hard rocking feast. 7/10

Vulcano: Eye In Hell (Mighty Music) [Paul Scoble]

When you think about Thrash, most people jump straight to thinking about American Bay Area thrash, or possibly European thrash like Kreator, Sodom or Sabbat. If you mention Brazilian thrash, people immediately go to Sepultura, which is understandable considering how influential and important Sepultura are. However, when it comes to groundbreaking, you have to hand the laurels to Vulcano. Vulcano have been making fast, exciting music since 1981. They have been playing a style of metal that is instantly recognisable as thrash since 1983’s EP Om Pushne Namah.

That was 37 years ago, in that time the five piece have made ten albums before Eye In Hell. The bands style has slowly morphed into what nowadays would be referred to as Black Thrash, so there's a similarity with more modern Black Trash bands like Toxic Holocaust, Hellripper or Aura Noir. Eye In Hell is packed with short, fast tight pieces of old school thrash. The sound is similar to early Slayer, Kreator Or Sodom, with vocals that sound a little like Tom G Warrior. The whole time I was listening to this album I was reminding myself that Vulcano were making groundbreaking thrash metal at the same time Slayer, Sodom and Kreator were doing the same.

The album opens with Bride Of Satan a fantastic piece of old school blackened thrash. Short, punchy, tight and fast, everything that Thrash should be. Sinister Road is another highlight, it’s similar to some Aura Noir material and has a great chorus. It’s not all about fast though; title track Eye In Hell is a slow, heavy, relentless beast that still batters the listener, but in a slow and insanely heavy way, less pneumatic drill, more wrecking ball. The band can do slightly more complex material as well. Evil Empire starts with a simple blasting section, before going into a very slow, heavy and dramatic section. The song then slowly builds back to the tight fast riffing before the song ends. The overall quality of this album is impressive as well. All the tracks on this album are great, ok it’s a fairly simple style, but they do it so well it’s difficult to single out particular tracks as the standard is so hi. Struggling Besides Satan is an early thrash blast with a brilliant screaming solo. Devil's Bloody Banquet is a taut, fast and battering, a real blast of a song.

Probably my favourite track is Inferno, the opening reminds me of Practice What You Preach era Testament, before going into a savage, ultra fast riffing. The feeling of speed and inertia is just fantastic, If you used this track to get to work every morning you’d never be late! Eye In Hell is a great, vital, energy packed blast of old school/black thrash. This album has the most important factor for any thrash album; it’s exciting. The album sparkles and cracks with razor sharp riffs, cracking atonal solo’s and great harsh vocals. Vulcano are one of the originators of Thrash Metal, the fact that they are still making great music 39 years after forming, is so impressive. 8/10

Fool's Ghost: Dark Woven Light (Prosthetic Records) [Rich Oliver]

It’s safe to say that humanity is currently sitting in some very dark times. Music can always be relied on as a coping mechanism for such times. For some people they need to fill their life with joyous music to counteract the darkness of reality but others like myself find solace in music which delves into those dark places. Dark Woven Light is one such album which very much delves deep into that darkness. It is the debut album from Kentucky duo Fool’s Ghost who are a new signing to Prosthetic Records.

Comprised of Nick Thieneman (Young Widows, Breather Resist) and Amber Thieneman (Liberation Prophecy, Sandpaper Dolls), Fool’s Ghost are setting out to challenge the very notion of what heaviness is within music. Whilst not sonically heavy in the denseness and destructive capability of the music they perform, this is heavy in the atmospheric sense with some very haunting and melancholic music. The music whilst being fairly stripped down still has a vastness and a cinematic scope to it. The stripped back guitars teamed with the atmospheric keyboards and the warming yet chilling vocals of Amber Thieneman make for a stirring concoction.

If you need music to sooth your spirit in these worrying times then let songs such as Touch, Chasing Time and All Hours help dispel the anxiety and sadness. At the time of writing this I’ll admit I wasn’t having a good day with an ever present anxiety sitting on my shoulder but Dark Woven Light definitely helped lift some of that weight off me. Sit back, close your eyes and let this music wash over you. It is mesmerising stuff. 8/10

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