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This is what quality Black Metal sounds like.-
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| Ravencult: Morbid Blood |
Black Metal
Hell's Headbangers
April 12th, 201`1
- Sacrilege of Death - 2:52
- Possessed on Burial Ground - 3:20
- Hail Revenge - 4:25
- Morbid Blood - 4:07
- Winds of Damnation - 4:44
- With Hunger in Eyes - 2:55
- Snakes Crawls - 3:50
- Black Rites of Execration - 4:05
- Sworn to the Unspoken Oath - 4:31
- The Gates of Bloodshed - 4:44
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| Review Information |
Release length: 39:33
Review posted on April 10th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 10/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Temples of Torment (2007) | Morbid Blood (2011)
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| EP(s): |
Armageddon Rising (2004)
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| Demo(s): |
Despise the Blindfold (2002) | Cosmic Chaos (2003)
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| Review |
Ravencult formed back in 2001, and it wasn't until 2007 that the band finally found a home with Dark Essence Records to release a full-length debut with Temples of Torment. This Satanic Black Metal act from Athens, Greece, had long been looked over as a strong entity in the Black Metal scene, and with the follow-up to that debut, entitled Morbid Blood, the band prove that they are not to be dismissed so easily. Encompassing much of what is needed and solely lacking in their style's scene today, Morbid Blood makes for a putrid breath of air the style desperately needs, but few bands are giving back: Raw, angry, relentless Metal.
Morbid Blood starts off blazing out the chute with some fast guitar chords before hammering into some equally blisterng drumming that takes the general idea of the style, and amplifies it nicely to catchy, mandatory headbanging pace. The vocals are rough, raw, and have that gutteral edge to the traditional rhaspy wailing to add a little more of a unique spin to the recording. "Sacrilege of Death" is a furious song, filled with seething rage and aggression, building as you continue through it. The energy permeating through this song quickly grabs the listener by the throat, shaking him or her wildly until the very end of the song, letting go only for Ravencult to kick start a less menacing, but equally furious and energetic track, "Possessed on Burial Ground". The overall catchiness of fury to this song will again have heads banging against their will as the music makes their blood pump to a primal state of being. This is your welcome to Morbid Blood, and it's perhaps one of the best that the Black Metal style has seen in ages. Right from these two songs, even just "Sacrilege of Death", Ravencult perfectly sets up the tone of the album, and leaves the listener practically begging for more.
One of the things about this band that stands out is the catchiness of the material. Despite the anger and fury that can be found cased within the songs, there's this undeniable groove to the music that will instantly hook the listener. Of course, some tracks take on more of a traditional Black Metal sound with less of a groove to it, harboring ideas of early second wave Black Metal greats like Immortal coupled with some of today's leaders in the style such as 1349, but there's no denying the heavy, snarling, yet catchy early influences from acts such as Venom incorporated into this audio assault. Fans of acts like Goatwhore will instantly feel right at home with some of these tracks, but find this group to be much more sinister and commanding in the long run.
The mood of the album actually shifts quite often between more staple Black Metal to the energetic and angry style that kicks off this release. While the angry, furious material really makes this album stand out, the traditional compositions do their job well too. "Winds of Damnation" retains the fury that appears in every song so far, though more standard then the rest. The song takes from the overall quality of the recording, being a more modern sounding quality, but still being rather raw, and that does help to cast an atmosphere with it that feels burdening and violent. Sadly, these tracks are solid songs, but don't really have that kind of energy that tracks like "Sacrilege of Death" contain, and even then those faster, more angry songs don't quite match the intensity of that track either, leaving the rest of the album to feel like it was built specifically around that one song.
But again, it's not all bad. As mentioned, "Possessed on Burial Ground" is still a great track, and "Winds of Damntion" is a very atmospheric song. "Hail Revenge" is another standard Black Metal track that has plenty of strong points to it's more traditional composition and performance, and becomes another solid track of energetic and atmospheric Black Metal well worth checking out, as well as "Snakes Crawl", which often breaks into some slower, more dismal sections, and about three quarters into the song, the drumming picks up more of a groove like "Possessed on Burial Ground" had. Honestly, it becomes pointless to name specific songs on the release that sound great, as in the long run they all do, and there's a little something for everyone on this recording. The only reason the album feels like it gets weaker as it goes along is because all the songs become overshadowed by such an intense start to the recording with "Sworn to the Unspoken Oath" being the only song to really stand next to it, though it doesn't capture the same furious speed, but still comes off with plenty of atmosphere and hatred to make it cast more shadow over the rest.
Overall, aside the shadowing of music, the album is solid. The production has just the right amount of rawness to it, leaving the vocals at the proper levels to breathe a furious angry that often feels like it's simply foaming at the mouth with a melancholic and poisonous background from the music Ravencult brings to the table. There's varying levels of intensity and musical brutality, and that's leads to the album lacking any sort of repetition to it that many bands may unfortunately stumble upon. In addition to all that, the drumming sound phenomenal. The bass is at just the right level that it enhances the bass kicks to give enough of a audible distinction to the music and can physically be felt with even the slightest of alterations to the levels of bass available, and that also shows up with the bass guitar too. While the bass guitar doesn't do much but typically play the same chords as the guitar, it's prodominant and clear in the final recording, making the album sound that much more brutal with the aggression and anger that already exists in the furious guitars and drums.
This is a prime example of what Black Metal is, and what it should be. Ravencult seriously hit the nail on the head of the coffin perfectly, making this album stand out and in no way become repetitive in any sense. The anger, the fury, the raw traits, the superb production, and the variety really make Morbid Blood stand out in the underground, and is perhaps some of the finest that this style has to offer, especially in the name of Satan himself. If you have yet to experience Ravencult, you simply must buy this album now! There are no excuses when it comes to punishing Black Metal, and there sure are none found on this effort.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Hell's Headbangers Records.
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