Self professed Redneck Black Metalers Blood Cult hammer out only their second album in their 15-year career, ‘We are the Cult of the Plains’. After being mainly a demo band until 2005’s limited release debut ‘We who walk through the Rows’, you can imagine the kind of sound these guys will be flogging. Sounding like an uber fuzzy Motorhead mashed up with a bit of Venom, a lot of alcohol and a book called ‘My first Solo’, all recorded in your basement with a tape recorder and you pretty much get the picture.

There is one shift between classic heavy metal and black metal, aptly shown on second track ‘Devil' s Sabbath’, which has more in common with Guns ‘N’ Roses and ZZ Top then it does with Marduk or Mayhem. And then it’s sterile 80’s rock for most of the remainder. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think it really works that well. Fair play to them for mixing two styles that they obviously like, but I think it makes the music sound disjointed and really destroys any chance of building an atmosphere. Bits of it sound like Billy Idol with blast beats for fuck’s sake (‘Ludi Ceriales’)! And that just brings back awful memories of the Murderdolls that are best kept locked forever. And another thing, I thought long over blown solos that take up most of the song were a thing of the past that were universally recognised as being shite!? They make way too much of an appearances on this album. T

he thing is that there easily could have two separate albums here, one rock and one Black Metal, but it feels like its just been jammed together and doesn’t allow you to get lost in either. I think it is always good to remember that ‘cult band’ doesn’t automatically mean good band. Blood Cult are a prime example of retro Southern Rock that should have died out a long time ago, and definitely shouldn’t have tried to incorporate Black Metal into it’s grave of mundane wank. 

Carl Sucharyna Thomas

No no no no no no. I refuse to acknowledge this shite… All right fine. I’ll review this, but I’m not happy about it.  

My first thoughts when downloading this album were, “A Capella ey? Isn’t that the type of music where people sing the parts of the instruments themselves like the douche bags wearing headphones on the train?” Right on the fucking money Mr. Civi, and cross bread with that most awful of metal sub genres, the head spinningly, vomit educingly cheesy Power Metal. All the instruments except the drums and some of the synth is performed with the voice, which, while possibly could be construed as talented in Bizzaro world (Simpsons joke), is so fucking annoying I want to shit my organs out just because I think that will put me out of my misery faster than hitting delete. 

I’m not even joking; ‘Sing a song of metal’ sounds like it came off a Disney soundtrack. And I didn’t even listen to the ‘Master of Puppets’ cover because, even though I am by no means a fan of Metalica, even I couldn’t stand to hear a song that is so important to metal in general murdered so horribly. Who the fuck gave them the rights that do that anyway?!?! They need a good slapping about. And while I’m thinking about it, it’s a bit of a wimpy cop out have a real drum kit isn’t it? Surely a true A Cappella band is fully voice or body sounds. I would happily volunteer to be their drummer just so I could make the snare sound by smashing their heads repeatedly against a table. 

I don’t think it would be so offensively bad if the music wasn’t such a painfully well trodden, average as dirt brand of power metal. A Capella Myrkskog, now there’s a more interesting proposition. All in all I think it is a gimmicky piece of crap that contributes nothing and only makes the ‘band’ look stupid. End. 

Carl Sucharyna Thomas

 Avsky sound like a band that is dedicated to their craft and has now fully spread their creative wings and soared to new heights. Scorn is an album you can keep going back to and it will still kick you in the guy with its sheer passion and ferociousness, a true gem of the underground.

Carl Sucharyna Thomas

Nine years after their last epic, Troll return with a new delicious slice of Norwegian black metal in ‘Neo-Satanic Supremacy’. This is not your average second wave Norwegian sound, the production is high quality, there are many gothic and synth sections, in fact it is present on pretty much every song. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a wimpy synth band trying to play black metal, Troll are still rooted very much in the frantic drumming, icy riffing and rasping, hateful vocals that the genre generally includes. Think of much more angry and slightly stripped down Dimmu Borgir and you’re in the right area. 

Unfortunately, like the aforementioned Borgir, Troll do slip up on the lyrical front once in a while, the lyrics to ‘Burn the Witch’ are a bit shit really, and the song is probably the weakest on the album. A mid paced keyboard driven snooze, it is an example of a song that would have benefited from bad production. Luckily it is swiftly followed up by the blasting fury of ‘Morkets Skoger’, reminding me of a mixture of Lord Belial, Gorgoroth and Virgin Black, it is one of the strongest songs on the album. I have to say; despite what the press release said about ‘pitch black atmosphere’ I was left with the impression of a winter fantasyland, similar to how I feel after listening to a recent Immortal album. This is by no means a bad thing, but I get the feeling it wasn’t what the band intended some how. It is definitely down to the keyboards, they have that real sense of ‘Saffron’s Curse’ about them. Still, if you want a convincing gothic black metal album to start your year off, get your hands on this! 

Carl Sucharyna Thomas