LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH

It is great to see a band like LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH on a big league label like Metal Blade. The last album I reviewed from the Los Angeles-based act was "The Golden Plague" on underground label Blackmetal.com. That disc showed a lot of potential in a thrashy black metal attack that relied on iron clad riffing that approached death metal in intensity and some pretty damn good songwriting; the flat production the only thing that I felt didn't do the sound justice, although a recent revisit to the album revealed that it wasn't nearly as much of an issue as I first thought. Anyway, that potential is now fully realized in the form of "The Extra Dimensional Wound", a big can of black metal whup-ass.

Even better is that "The Extra Dimensional Wound" offers not a single hint of compromise or record label kowtowing for the purpose of achieving a more accessible sound. Though more metal clanging riffage than anything else, the band doesn't shy away from a little melody in the guitar work either (see the intelligently composed "Damnation Pentastrike"); just enough for memory retention. The power surging riffs, the earthquake rhythm section, and the general approach to arranging reminds of early WATAIN, occasionally GORGOROTH (mostly the muscularity),and similar black metal acts that focus on riff heft and rhythmic toughness over minor-note pattern overkill and a smoothing of the edges. The thrash and even death basis of several tracks have a lot to do with that, as does the feeling of complete domination that forces itself on you. The lengthier songs, such as "Damnation Pentastrke", "Venter of the Black Beast", the title track (all around six minutes),and 12-minute album closer "Paths to Chaos" in particular, show a keenness of composition that keeps one from paying any attention whatsoever to the running time.

If you've rarely, if ever, heard about LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH in the past, look for that to change dramatically as word spreads about "The Extra Dimensional Wound". Forget about over hyped geographically-based black metal superiority. LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH is a jaw-breaking example of USBM strength. "The Extra Dimensional Wound" is pure Armageddon.