WARDAEMONIC - Acts of Repentance
Transcending Obscurity Records
So when I think of Australian black metal it's bands like BESTIAL WARLUST, DESTROYER 666 and NAZXUL who come to mind first. I know some of you out there will say "what about PORTAL man?" Yeah well I've always seen them as a death metal act. Be that as it may my overall impression when I think of black metal from Australia is abrasive, thrashy and at times having some death metal influences. Of course I thought NAZXUL slightly changed that perception a bit. But now we have a new contender who throw a wrench into the mechanism of preconceived ideas.
WARDAEMONIC, ya gotta love that name, are technically not a newer band. They've actually been around for fifth-teen years and have four previous releases under their belts (3 full lengths and an EP). Acts of Repentance is their fourth full length and probably first to give the band some world wide exposure. It's also my introduction to em and I love learning about new stuff. What I like about this release upon hearing it is how their sound was totally unexpected.
Acts of Repentance is a five song album with a running time of slightly over forty-five minutes. So we're talking some long songs here people. Their shortest song is the opener which is just over seven minutes where as their longest passes the twelve minute mark. So we're not talking about some blackened thrash and bash act here people. Quite the opposite, this release envelopes you for three quarters of an hour. It fools you into believing what's coming next in their blackened bag of genre tricks. And you're like wow that was cool, what's next.
Listening to this I can't help but think of MARDUK with a better script and an injection of cobra venom. The songs on here are fierce in your face attacks. Let's give props to the vocals and drum work which is like a two pronged attack while the guitar work either is in brutal riff mode or complete dissonant rhythm style. Oh yeah and you can actually hear the bass player. Yeah I'm shocked, shocked I say, to hear bass playing on a black metal release.
In the end I keep thinking Sweden with this band's sound and fury. No offense to them of course because this is actually a perfect release. This is the kind of album that will scorch your soul and break you out of that mundane feeling of present day black metal. I just couldn't stop listening to this one because it had me tagged to constantly search every facet which are many. I've been waiting for a black metal album to have me think holy crap bring me back. I've found it.
https://tometal.com/
https://wardaemonic.bandcamp.com/album/acts-of-repentance-black-metal
https://www.facebook.com/Wardaemonic
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