Man, as much as I love reliable old-school school, consistent bands that I’m familiar with and know what I’m getting with every album, I love discovering ‘new’ bands.  Whether the band is brand new on the scene or in the case of Australia’s King, a veteran band with some household names and two prior albums under their belt, that I just flat-out missed.

Like Countrymates Oath of Damnation, King plays a blistering form of melodic black/death metal but the influence here is pretty clear: Immortal, and certainly the Immortal offshoots I, and Abbath . Vocalist Tony Forde (Ex-Blood Duster) has an Abbath-like croak and rasp, and guitarist Dave Hill (Fuck Im Dead) has locked into some very classic later Immortal-like galloping riffs as well as some searing Epoch of Unlight sounding melodies.

And of course, drummer Dave Haley needs no introduction but he carries over his intense work from bands like Abremalin, The Amenta, Psycroptic, Ruins, and Werewolves into King’s furiously melodic assault. Bassist Tim Anderson from bludgeoning death metal/deathcore act The Red Shore is just icing on the cake.

This thing just fucking rips from start to finish. It has a perfect blend of searing, shredding, slicing black metal and epic melodies. The Immortal reference is clear right away with “Perception Ignited” and then the little jaunts in the next killer track “Volcano”,  “Once and for All” or “Crepescular” could very well be from the first Abbath album. But they can bring absolute fire as well on “Black Dimension” and well.. “Into the Fire”. But plenty of moments that do both such as standout “Death in the Cosmos” or closer “To The Stars”.

The fact this is delivered by guys responsible for killer grind albums like Cunt, Str8outtnorthcote, and Bring On the Dead, and tech death like Scepter of the Ancients is kinda mindblowing. It’s better than a lot of Scandinavian bands and artists that have doing it for years (yeah, it is better than a couple of recent Immortal/Abbath albums as well) and is one of Australia’s better black metal exports since Astriaal’s Renascent Misanthropy.

[Visit the band's website]

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