Monday, October 22, 2018

BLUTVIAL - Mysteries of Earth review



BLUTVIAL - Mysteries of Earth

Heidens Hart Records




Last time I heard from this English black metal act was in 2009. To be specific that was when they released their debut full length, I Speak of the Devil, on Spinefarm Records. I have it by the way and it's a decent release. Over the years I never kept up with em. So here we have their third full length. Their last one was 2011's Curses Thorns Blood.


Why the long span of years between releases? Well because the members have other projects going on. Two guys are in CODE who are fairly busy. They also have a new drummer from the Dutch black metal act ISRATHOUM. I have an old CD by them as well. But enough about all of that.


If there's one thing I've learned over the years about English black metal, or UKBM for short, is that there is no cohesive or distinct sound from their scene. I mean you name a blackened sub genre and they have an example of it. Add to that the band actually sounds like they came from somewhere else as well as being just as good.


Which brings us back to this new one by BLUTVIAL. Mysteries of Earth sounds like Norwegian black metal circa 93/94. But of course it's been polished up to modern standards. Imagine if you will two dentists donned in corpse-paint, ala Gaahl formerly of GORGOROTH, boring holes into your skull. Sound good to you?


The vocals are creepy rasps. The riffs and lead work are icy and savage. Add to that the drum work is absolutely fantastic. BLUTVIAL has come out of nowhere and refined old school black metal meets 2018 without bending to outsiders wanting to progress beyond the genre parameters. All hail English black metal.


http://www.heidenshart.nl/

https://heidenshart.bandcamp.com/album/mysteries-of-earth

https://www.facebook.com/Blutvial



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