The Riffs Must Flow – I

OK, so here we are with my first ever assignment as a “metal writer”. Dream come true? A nightmare come true? Either way, I took the “job” with intent and a big smile. No remorse! Thanks to The Key Keeper for the invitation!! Twitter was a gateway for the next level on metal for me! Not only I embraced extreme metal since I got into it as I got to know hundreds of amazing bands and that the Underground scene is a much living and a savage beast that needs to be fed with our support!

Twitter also got me into meeting and interacting daily with a whole bunch of amazing ppl, We the happy few #MetalTwitter and let´s not forget the #UMF United Metal Forces as Count Vlad once named it…

Who am I and what are my metal credentials you might be asking yourself at this very “momento” (see, I’m not a native English speaker, so I might use Spanish words and be a bit of a snob, forgive me). You can call me Perrö (got the Melville reference? Snobby?) Well, I’m just a fan with a life of listening. And as a fan, I will try to write about what are my honest thoughts about music. Specially one of the most precious gifts that our Lord and saviour Saint Anthony Iommi (The Riff Be With Him) gave us: DOOM

As for the matter at hand. First time hearing any of these four bands and albums.

Really enjoyed the diversity here as none of the four albums deliver the same sonic experience. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I hope you like what, and how I write, but most importantly I hope you support the bands by buying their stuff or by simply sharing their music around. Be part of the metal machine! And doom on!

Perrö

Band: ThroneHammer
Title: Usurper OfTthe Oaken Throne
Label: Church Within Records
Release Date: 03 May 2019
Country: International
Format reviewed: Digital Promo

These days Games Of Thrones is everywhere, like it or not. So, when I pressed play on this album´s first song, I was transported beyond the wall into the land of the free folk. The artwork helped also in that área as you may see (Warriors around Ice, yeah). So, my battle axe is ready to receive the charge of the enemy while my limbs are trembling, not because of the merciless cold, but because of the excitement of the impending battle!! That is what this album conveys: Epic battles, cold heartless geography, and riffs as big and thick as the ice wall that the Black Watch defends. Epic as epic comes. You are in for a long but fulfilling campaign also, you got 78 minutes in 6 songs. Don’t worry, you won’t be drag into the slow sands of time. The songs take you from one riff to another as the band keeps changing the landscape while maintaining coherence. Get some!

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Band: Crestfallen Queen
Title: Queen Of Swords
Label: Church Within Records
Release Date: 25 May 2019
Country: Germany
Format reviewed: Digital Promo

Another album with long songs. Albeit there are four proper songs here, with two instrumentals pieces that serve as an eerie reminder of things to come, and as a bridge between songs. This whole album exhumes a dark atmosphere in a Doom wrap up. You have a dose of Proto and Occult Metal, great beautiful vocals that can turn into a fierce growl when the gal handing the mic feels to, and it really steps up the sense of danger that the music compels. Riffs with gusto, acoustic passages, lyrics about corpses, ghosts and other things that put a smile into any metal fan. Try it, you may like it here in the dark with us…

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Band: Abrahma
Title: In Time For The Last Rays Of Light
Label: Deadlight Records (EU)/Small Stone Recordings (USA)
Release Date: 24 May 2019
Country: France
Format reviewed: Digital Promo

Gloomy and heavy. This is what this álbum feels as it creates layer after layers of profound sound.
I picture a slow moving river, the mist is thick and low. A wooden raft painfully floats downstream with the French band Abrahma playing their atmospheric doom on it. After a brief momento, they slowly began to disappear in the mist once again, as a vanishing ghost. Still, their momentary appearance will leave a mark on your soul. That, if you are alive… I found out after some runs of the whole álbum, that it has grown on me like a dark seed, a parasite that now lives inside, now it is part of me…

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Deadlight Records
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Bigcartel
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Small Stone Recordings
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Band: Kaleidobolt
Title: Bitter
Label: Svart Records
Release Date: 24 May 2019
Country: Finland
Format reviewed: Digital Promo

Don’t know what Bitter means (if it is in Finnish), but this music makes me think of sweetness and psychedelic drugs… I mean rock!. Unicorns and hard rock engraved in the 70´s recipe with a savage spin. Fuzz turned to eleven while progressive and jazz elements are thrown in the mix. I really thought I was listening to a crazy Frank Zappa jam. Even a mix of Hendrix and Steve Vai came to mind during some moments. I’m tripping, I know. But it is just the music I tell you, that is how Good this is! I Will be licking this artwork for sure!!!

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Till next time.
Perrö