Thursday 11 June 2015

Barbarian Fist - The Whorelord Cometh (Album Review)


Album Type: Full-length
Date Released: May 28th 2015
Label: Self Released

The Whorelord Cometh - Track Listing:

1.The Whorelord Cometh 09:35
2.No Brakes on the Rape Train 09:07
3.Wargasm 09:48
4.Bear Destroyer 12:27

Members:

Alexander Mora - Guitars & Vocals
Per Georg Krokstad - Bass
Petter Haukaas – Drums

Bio:

Hailing from the glorious cesspit known as Oslo, Norway, Barbarian Fist is here to make the world a little less civilized and a bit more foul smelling. Consisting of equal parts downtuned fuzz guitar, used up riffs, and sexual innuendo, this power trio strives to make music that will make you less inclined to take a bath, more likely to ingest large amounts of beer, as well as instantly grow a magnificent beard(regardless of gender).

Review:

BARBARIAN FIST. That would probably sum up this album perfectly in two words that conjure a sonic pillaging of my eardrums. In the interest of good reading I will expand however, I stand firm that this band name is a very fitting description of what heard. The first track, “The Whorelord Cometh” dropped the fuzz from the starting gate. Dirty riff and heavy drum intro. This track sounds like a lost cut from Sleep’s masterpiece Dopesmoker. This track has a great amount of sludge but still enough speed to keep it heavy. The drums expand out of the basic groove to deliver some nice tom fills that rise above the swirling guitars.

Track two…”No Brakes On The Rape Train”. Yep. Sounds just like that. Once again, my obligation to a decent read leads me to write a few words about this track. In my years of listening to heavy music, you think I would have learned a few lessons. One of these lessons is that when a track starts off with a lighter bluesy guitar intro, DON’T TURN UP THE VOLUME. Well I did and then the band came in with another sonic raid. I love bands with dynamics. Barbarian Fist knows how to make this happen on a dime. This track is 9 minutes of straight tone and dynamics.

Wargasm” follows suit with a track filled with the same assault into some grooving heavy blues back into assault. “Bear Destroyer” comes in with a drone of feedback and builds into several movements. This track transitions to heavy swamp groove to tight blues riffs back to a decreasing sludge outro.

Barbarian Fist shows some great musicianship on this album but really hones in on the tightness as a group. This album delivers a great lesson for bands to remember that the sum of the parts is greater. The bass tone is deep and filled with great lines. The guitar is full of variety and ventures into some great tonal territory. The drums are driving and use the whole kit to give that intensity that many heavy bands have missing today. Combining of these elements, in a live tracked album, show the band’s strengths residing in their collective heaviness. Or I could sum up this band in two words…BARBARIAN FIST.

Words by Rick Fogarty

Thanks to Barbarian Fist for the promo. The Whorelord Cometh is now available to buy on DD/Vinyl from BandCamp now.

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