Monday, January 24, 2022

NOCTURNAL GRAVES - An Outlaw's Stand review


 

NOCTURNAL GRAVES - An Outlaw's Stand

Season Of Mist


So yeah I guess you could say I'm a NOCTURNAL GRAVES fan. I got into them back in 2007 with their Satan's Cross full length. I also have every full length they've done since then. This one's their fourth. They're blackened thrash from Australia cut from the same cloth as countrymen DESTROYER 666. Now that's obviously a gimme since guitarist Ian Gray (aka: Shrapnel) and multi-instrumentalist Jarro Raphael (aka: Nuclear Exterminator) were both in DESTROYER 666. So hey what's not to love right? 


Now if you've followed this band's career, and you probably haven't, then I'll explain. Yeah early on they were a DESTROYER 666 offshoot. We're talking typical Aussie blackened thrash which is cool as fuck. But NOCTURNAL GRAVES has progressed away from the typical and in a good way. I see guitarist Shrapnel as the leader pushing their songs to incorporate more blackened atmosphere plus a touch of tech thrash bludgeoning and death metal. 


As much as I like their early raw stuff, 2013's From the Bloodline of Cain" is a masterpiece. I really think An Outlaw's Stand is now their best album. The vocals are totally filth ridden. The riffs in these song structures are flat out insane. It's as if this release was recorded in a studio on fire. The soloing is part epic and grandeur or down right machete head cutting. There's the blackened death metal punches as well as a snippet of black n roll. In the end a perfect fuckin record. 


https://www.season-of-mist.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkWFojURB4o&t=1038s


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