Welcome the Dead is the latest release from Norway's Crest of Darkness, a band who have very quietly amassed a nice little career for themselves that goes back to the mid 1990's. Their record label My Kingdom Music lists them as 'horror black metal' which is kind of odd, being that most black metal acts toil in a world where horror elements are the main theme to what they do, from the facial corpse paint, to the Satanic themes and lurid lyric imagery. Crest of Darkness are no different, the trio of of Ingar Amlien (vocals, bass), Rebo (guitars), and Bernhard (drums) having put together nine tracks of complete savagery here, the lyrics dealing with all sorts of visions of death, destruction, tales of Satan, and gruesome narratives. Sounds like your typical black metal album right? Well, these guys also inject a healthy dose of classic Swedish death metal into their musical attack, the riffs here thick & meaty at times to blend in with some also quite good tremolo picked mayhem, the drums at times thunderous but also there's the expected blast beats, and the vocals a mix of hellish screams, rasps, and growls. The occasional keyboard embellishment drops in from time to time, and there are even some tasty, melodic guitar solos to be found, like on the crushing "Chosen By the Devil". For the most part though, it's a never ending assault of brutality, so expect to get pummeled while listening to "Scourged and Crucified", "Welcome the Dead", "The Almighty", "Borrowed Life", and "The Noble Art". The bands atmospheric side comes out on the dreamy, almost doomy closer "Katharsis", complete with soaring guitar lines, keyboards, and clean vocals, a great way to end this very enjoyable album.
It's always refreshing to hear a modern black metal album that offers up some variety and doesn't go the route of relentless brutality. Crest of Darkness are both excellent musicians and songwriters, and though they've fallen into the trap of so many bands with titling a song "Memento Mori" (enough already!), it's pretty apparent here that all their years of hard work have paid off and they are more than ready to play ball with the heavy hitters in the extreme metal genre. Well done!
Track Listing
- Welcome The Dead
- Chosen By The Devil
- Scourged And Crucified
- My Black Bride
- Borrowed Life
- The Almighty
- Memento Mori
- The Noble Art
- Katharsis
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