BLOOD CULT

With a description like "Midwestern black metal rednecks", it's a cinch that Kenney, IL's BLOOD CULT won't be offered membership in the flavor of the month club. And that's a good thing. Much like VAN CANTO's "Tribe of Force" offers a brand of metal unlike most, albeit for entirely different reasons, "We are the Cult of the Plains" takes black metal into previously unexplored territories, or at least holds dominion over the lands in a way that is uniquely BLOOD CULT.

Opener "My Forest Home" moves along in proper black metal fashion until the first of the album's many fantastic guitar solos played over more of a traditional riff/beat reveals a 70s rock approach. That approach then races out of the gates on "Devil's Sabbath", a song that utilizes the same basic structure and vocal patterns as, and I'm not kidding, TED NUGENT's "Stormtroopin'", including gonzo guitar soloing and lyrics that generally mimic the original-yet-substitute Satanic fare with ridiculously gnarly vocals, before moving on to a section of '70s rock jamming. That is something I never thought I'd hear from a black metal band and BLOOD CULT flat out nail it. At this point the gloves come off and BLOOD CULT fires off an eight-minute psychedelic rock opus called "Ludi Ceriales" that is run though a black metal filter, culminating in a long section of smokin' soloing on top of a "Stranglehold" style hypnotic rhythm. "Cult of the Plains", "We Came Back", "Serpent", and the freaky, atonal "Necromance" incorporate variations on a similar theme, melding black metal acidity, southern rock and, to use a more recent example, the psych-rock of THE DEVIL'S BLOOD, all of which succeeds smashingly. While "Seeds" returns to a mostly traditional black metal approach, save for a strangely triumphant chorus, and the jaunty "Never Said Goodbye" features something along the line of THE CRAMPS gone black metal, it is on the eight-minute "Illinoisan Altar" that BLOOD CULT goes ape-shit nuts, incorporating everything from psyche/prog to jangly country and western to classic rock bombast, all shrouded in the blasphemous and the black. Here again the Reverend J.R. Preston is a first rate lead guitarist and his vintage soloing is among the best I've heard in quite some time, regardless of genre. The guy plays his ass off all over the album.

There is not much of a downside to "We are the Cult of the Plains", the one possible exception a lo-fi production that while suitable in some ways could stand a little more beef, volume, and clarity. The point only marginally impacts the rating, which remains high due to the sheer brilliance of the songwriting and an approach to black metal that is both brave and exciting. The Moribund Cult should be applauded for finding room on its roster for BLOOD CULT.