RAVENCULT

Traditional, thrashing, and rockin' all happen at various points on "Morbid Blood" from Greek black metallers RAVENCULT, a band for which you'd not lose points for assuming they are Australian. It's got that Aussie vibe, usually when the blackness starts rocking and rolling, but it is the thrash riffing on this one that will cause you to pay the strictest attention.

You'd also not be tarred nor feathered — probably not anyway — for admitting TOXIC HOLOCAUST popped into your head at one point or another during "Sacrilege of Death", which really only means you've (a) heard TOXIC HOLOCAUST; and (b) realize that neither band takes cream or sugar in its coffee. "Possessed Burial Ground" continues in a similar vein until the switch is flipped for a purer black metal experience on "Hail Revenge", though the muscularity and viciousness is not far removed from 1349 on the one hand and GORGOROTH on the other. Then it's back to thrash and a supreme riff storm on the title track before returning to the creepier end of BM on "Winds of Damnation". It is on "With Hunger in Eyes" that the black 'n' roll rises to the top in a manner not unlike GOSPEL OF THE HORNS, followed by a trad-BM return on "Snakes Crawl", another round of rockin' on "Black Rites of Execration", some thrashing groove on "Sworn to the Unspoken Oath", and a show-closing blast of the black on "The Gates of Bloodshed". Phew!

Believe it or not, those 10 tracks flow together like a pestilential river, offering just enough diversity to ward off any threats of disjointedness. Yep, "Morbid Blood" is a keeper. Give RAVENCULT a little respect, will ya? Goat knows they've earned it on this sophomore long player.