ALBUM REVIEW: Black Royal, "Firebride"

By: Jeff Anderson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 14/02/2020

Label: Suicide Records

“Firebride” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Coven

2). Hail Yourself

3). Pagan Saviour

4). All Them Witches

5). 313

6). Gods of War

7). The Reverand

8). Firebride

9). For The Dead Travel Fast

The Review:

For a band that has been around since 2013, I have to admit that I hadn't heard of Black Royal until this record showed up in my e-mail. I did some research and couldn't find a whole lot about the band to be honest, but I thought this might be a good thing because I can let the band's music speak for itself. All I knew going into this record was they're from the almighty Finland, they sing about Satan, and they classify themselves as 'death n sludge'. I'm sold.

'Firebride', which will be released on February 14th, 2020 via Suicide Records, is a catchy, groove-filled, jam record from front to back. Initially hearing they were defined as 'death n sludge' is definitely not enough because this record has so much more to it. A blackened scream you'd be able to compare to the likes of Nergal from Behemoth or even Gaahl from his stint with Gorgoroth is what leads the record. You'd think it'd be an off-putting mixture but it fits in so well. I've always been a fan of bands that can pull off a vocal styling that is usually alien to the genre of music being played, so this was a nice surprise. The guitars are so crisp but have just a touch of that dirty sludge we all love. The bass roaring under it all allowing you to feel the groove, and the drums staying in the pocket and making everything fit perfectly and guiding you into the next spot. I love drummers who don't get ahead of themselves on albums like this. Having a guy who knows how to bring the thunder and let it sit right in your face without overplaying is such a rarity. Drummers need to take more notes from men such as Bill Ward who is a master of this. Stay in the pocket and shake the earth without trying to make it fall apart. It's not always needed and can ruin the flow of an album. This album has incredible self-awareness of what it is and I respect that immensely.

The record touches on a whole heap of genres like doom, stoner, heavy, power, and sludge metal. It takes the finest of all of these and rolls them into a record that will make you feel like your money was finally well spent. Especially in a time where everything has been so watered down and you know what you're gonna get and you're bored before it even shows up.

The first officially released single 'Pagan Saviour' while great, is honestly one of the more relaxed tracks of the album. Which is saying something because the track is killer and far from relaxed. Big riffs, epic chanting, and it just feels like it gets bigger and bigger. So to know that there are songs that amp it up even more is great. Songs like 'Hail Yourself', 'The Reverend', and 'All Them Witches' are so tasty and irresistible to headbanging it's nice to see a record that will be able to sustain itself farther down the line if they choose to release more singles. They have nowhere to go but up with the tracks they've kept from the public so far. While I didn't hear what I feel is enough doom on the record, 'All Them Witches' gives you a super heavy dose that will take care of that thirst but I'd love to hear these guys venture into the doom side of things a lot more in the future.

All in all, what you have here is a record that's almost perfect to be the soundtrack of a night of great times with your friends and some drinks. If you need a quick description to sell your buddies on, tell them it sounds like an alcohol-fueled, sludge-riff rock album fronted by Satan. What's not to love? With everything I've heard it's no surprise that in 2019 they were tapped to open for the legendary Corrosion of Conformity in Helsinki. So if COC signed off on these guys then what do you need me to tell you for? Go buy the record!

I'd love to see a lot more action and push on these guys. They have what you're looking for. Every track on the record (aside from an interlude) hits the spot for something. There shouldn't be anyone left out when listening to this album.

ALBUM REVIEW: Coughdust - "Worldwrench"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 01/09/2017

Label: Suicide Records

Coughdust stirs up a blend of doom and stoner riffs that may intrigue your musical sensibilities for their sharp contrasts – the doom stylings are most assuredly doom, while the stoner orientation very clearly recalls the psychedelic, even classic, chords associated with this subgenre. Coughdust's sounds can be truly refreshing and with an added death metal influence, you'll find some spellbinding music within.

“Worldwrench” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Serpents of the Earth

2. The Second Principle  

3. Gripless

4. Worldwrench

5. Dead Calm

6. Blind

The Review:

Composed of players who have performed with death metal staple Deathbound, progressive/heavy band Lowmen and death metal group Corpset, Coughdust stirs up a blend of doom and stoner riffs that may intrigue your musical sensibilities for their sharp contrasts – the doom stylings are most assuredly doom, while the stoner orientation very clearly recalls the psychedelic, even classic, chords associated with this subgenre. Considering how often stoner can end up in form and function sludge in so many words, Coughdust's sounds can be truly refreshing. Add to this death metal influences and you'll find some spellbinding music.

The road for the four-piece has included a 2012 debut EP, a 2014 full-length and a 2015 split with fellow Finnish stoner/doom group Demonic Death Judge. With "Worldwrench," Coughdust follows up those outings with new evolutions of its brand of doom.

As in its previous releases, Coughdust excels through the powerful and original vocals of Antti Murtonen, who has fronted bands like Ward and Conform. His particular microphone approach is faithful to how contemporary extreme music is visioned today, while remaining distinct in its timbre and intensity. "Serpents of the Earth," which kicks off the new album, helps the uninitiated get a handle on this cutting vocal, where agonized howls alternate with bitter lyricism. The listener also is drawn in by the violent drum work of Petri Hartikainen, who you may have heard as part of the Finnish death metal band Worthless. Hartikainen offers a death metal consignment to "Worldwrench," amping up the speed and pacing to match what becomes harder playing than standard doom.

Coughdust tends to be most unique in its atypical tracks. "The Second Principle" is a departure from the open and plants the stoner flag, much like "Dead Calm" later on the album. Both give a grinding, corrosive accounting for the group until settling in with a hallucinatory slog of guitars, noise and distortion. These avenues are quite unexpected, given the way the tracks begin, but are nevertheless impressive.

Considering the intersection of death metal with this group, you probably won't be shocked to hear these elements in tracks like "Blind." How they're composed is quite inventive. Heavy, asymmetrical chord progressions, fierce bass and the previously mentioned drum patterns are standout. The overall organization of songs and rhythms are paired well throughout, and will undoubtedly thrash you.

One of the only complaints about "Worldwrench" is its length. At just around half an hour, the album feels like it ends far too early, and you do not get more out of Coughdust as you might otherwise want. Nevertheless the group makes an audacious return, one that will please its base and lure in those curious about its emerging reputation for archetypal sound.

"Worldwrench" is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Firebreather - "Firebreather"

By: David Jupp

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 13/10/2017

Label: Suicide Records

Firebreather switch between galloped bludgeon, half-time bang and once Mattias Nööjd detonates the riff bombs, unsurprisingly, big ol’ horns occur

“Firebreather” CD//CS//DD//LP track listing:

1). Fire Foretold

2). Emerald Eyes

3). The Ice Lord

4). Release The Lava

The Review:

The manner in which you discover music is important, especially in this era of faceless Spotify playlists and algorithmic recommendations. Through these new channels the romance of discovering a killer band has sadly, to an extent been lost. Be it via a friend lending you his copy of a debut record or perhaps stumbling across a hungry support act at a show, the process of your introduction to music can often amplify your attachment to it.

For me, with Swedish sludge duo Galvano, it was the later. To be specific it was Desertfest 2015 and I was in the Black Heart killing time before Orange Goblin. I noticed a steady stream of beards heading upstairs to the small stage and figured I would see what all the fuss was about. What I was met with at the top of those stairs, was 40 minutes of the best sludge metal I had heard in years. It was brutal of course, but more importantly it was considered, intricate and progressive.

Galvano were a few weeks’ shy of releasing their sophomore triumph ‘Trail of the Serpent.’ So accidentally seeing a band perform, at their zenith, with such a juggernaut of sound was not only exciting but something special. After the show, I legged it to the merch-desk and parted ways with fifteen quid for a distinctly underwhelming and wonkily printed band-tee. This is a testament to how good that show was.

Fast forward almost year and I’ve devoured both ‘Two Titans’ and ‘Trail of the Serpent.’ Galvano are now firmly one of my favourite bands, but there is a deafening silence coming from their camp. Suddenly singer/guitarist Mattias Nööjd announces his new band ‘Firebreather’ and I’m not going to lie, I was gutted. I know it sounds adolescent, but because I had spontaneously followed that beard-highway to the dark, Galvano were my band, they were gone and I couldn’t believe it. I had only seen them once. So, over a year on, it is with trepidation and a hint of sadness that I approach Firebreather’s self-titled debut.

‘Fire Fortold’ stirs with blowing winds and a full-fat bass stagger. Seconds later Mattias Nööjd detonates the riff bomb and unsurprisingly, big ol’ horns occur. After another weighty tease from Kyle Pitcher’s bass, Tommy Hanning sets drums to flay and Nööjd’s guttural yell pounds into view. For the next seven minutes Firebreather proceed to switch between galloped bludgeon, half-time bang and most encouragingly, for any fellow Galvano fans still in mourning, interesting guitar interludes. Track one is an absolute rager.

‘Emerald Eyes’ opens with Pitcher and Hanning marinating in a low-end batter. Nööjd rapidly storms in with a descending riff that ominously misses the mark, luckily the verse makes a driving entrance and horns are restored. As the song reaches its peak Nööjd deploys one of his trademark guitar-runs and again the Galvano grief subsides. It’s this ear for melody in the fray that made ‘Trail of the Serpent’ such a brilliant record and Nööjd such an impressive guitarist. Whilst it seems like the proggier arrangements from his previous band have been replaced with a more direct approach, it is Nööjd’s ability to inject emotion as well as epicness into a song that set Galvano, and now seemingly Firebreather, apart. As ‘Emerald Eyes’ hits its sixth minute a flicker of musical familiarity kindles in the ear which I will come to later.

Lead single ‘The Ice Lord’ opens with Nööjd’s guitar hammer-on pulling at the reigns. Moments later Pitcher and Hanning’s rhythm-centaur breaks free and the albums stand-out beast hurtles forward. In a genre where tales of war and mythology are so often told, it requires a certain standard of song to not induce eye-rolls. Fortunately, the pace and pummel across ‘The Ice Lord’s six minutes is just outstanding. At minute four as the song flanks left, a slower interlude sees Nööjd roar ‘the oldest vision from this mountain, the eyes fill up the sky, a reign of blood.’ Just as Galvano knew how to accentuate their heft with the contrast of slow builds so do Firebreather and this ancient imagery sits perfectly in such a titanic outro.

Until now Firebreather have taken a more even and direct approach to arrangement so album closer ‘Release the Lava’s sprawling lurch and climb is a welcome about face. In the songs final third Nööjd’s melodic runs rear their head again, only this time they’re accompanied by Hanning’s nomadic slag-bass. The song forges home on a thunder of half-time riffs, like a fatally wounded warrior desperate to outlast the beast. Adam Burke’s stellar artwork is particularly apt here.

Perhaps it is the romance of not knowing what awaited me atop those stairs back in 2015, or maybe it’s the marauding arrangements Galvano affixed to their riffs. But for whatever reason I had never noticed the striking similarity between Mattias Nööjd and Matt Pikes’ vocal. Much like Matt Bellamy of Muse’s breathing, it is something that once heard, is impossible to forget, and it’s only accentuated by Nööjd’s narrowing of the space between Firebreather and High on Fire’s sound. The question is if it matters?

For me that aspect of familiarity glimmers throughout the record but at no point does it feel like pale imitation. I can imagine that this is an issue that will be ignored or emphasised by previous exposure to Galvano. Firstly, any comparisons to High on Fire are always a compliment but more importantly for the Galvano fans amongst us, it is their ghost that flickers in the heart of this record. Luckily, it just a flicker as Firebreather’s debut bludgeons to its own beat.

I am sure that somewhere soon, a riff-nerd will look up from his beer and instinctively follow the beards. Up the stairs, into the darkness and on, to a killer new band: Firebreather.

“Firebreather” is available here

Band info: facebook