Tuesday 9 October 2012

Hooded Menace - 'Effigies Of Evil' (Album Review)

By: John Slaymaker

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 11/09/2012
Label: Relapse Records


There is a lot of crusty doom bands around at the moment but I see Hooded Menace as leaders in this field, with three full lengths and umpteen split EP’s and they show no signs of running out of ideas.

‘Effigies of Evil’ CD//DD//LP track Listing

1) Vortex Macabre (10:44)
2) Effigies Of Evil (5:36)
3) In The Dead We Dwell( 7:50)
4) Curses Scribed In Gore (6:14)
5) Crumbling Insanity (6:32)
6) Summoned Into Euphoric Madness (5:42)
7) Evoken Vulgarity (6:48)
8) Retribution in Eternity (1:45)

Hooded Menace is:

Lasse Pyykko | guitars bass and vocals
Pekka Koskelo | drums
Teemu Hannonen | guitars
  
The Review

We start off with ‘Vortex Macabre’ and immediately  I am meat hooked, hung upside down to drain out, then I am dragged outside through the woods (possibly to tenderise) by a beastly riff that grinds and chews its way through the heath land. Slow of pace, heavy as sin and writhing and grinding, Hooded Menace always have reminded me of the most brutally catchy moments that Sweden’s  Dismember ever did.  The vocals are gruff and demonic and perfect for this kind of death metal, doomed sludge. Fucking great.

Title track ‘Effigies Of Evil’ comes round slow and bitchin', really nice deep drum sounds especially when Pekka rolls them. I defy you to not nod your head along to any of these tracks on ‘Effigies’. The two guitars take it in turns to wow you with their heavy hooks.  Definitely my favourite intro sample in a long time ‘In The Dead We Dwell’ has David Warbeck as Anton addressing a frightened crowd on how to kill vampires, in the hammer classic Twins Of Evil, yes indeed I got caught reciting this aloud in Tesco’s yesterday!.  ‘Curses Scribed In Gore’ is another highlight song with deep throat vocals and the duelling guitars again blow me away with so many leads and licks, whilst stomping drums pummel through depicting total bloody evil. Vincent Price introduces us to ‘Crumbling Insanity’ and I find it hard to decide my favourite track on this album, they are all equally good as there is definitely no fillers here.

There is a lot of crusty doom bands around at the moment but I see Hooded Menace as leaders in this field, with three full lengths and umpteen split EP’s and they show no signs of running out of ideas. ‘Summoned Into Euphoric Madness’ has that fantastic hook of an intro that the band manage to come up with every time, you really need to hear this album to believe what they are capable of.  ‘Evoken Vulgarity’ opens up with more epic death riffs only to wind down slowly for the last minute as broken glass shatters on the chapel floor leaving you breathless and vulnerable. And that leaves us with 1:45 of ‘Retribution in eternity’ as an Outro for those of us damned. This is proper horror.


You can buy the record here or digitally here



Band info: Facebook | Bandcamp