Death. War. Pestilence. Famine. A dying planet gasping for breath as it is gripped in the throes of Armageddon. Legions of demons sweep across the land, killing all in sight with reckless abandon. As the skies fall and the moon becomes black as sackcloth, it is out of this malignant hatred that Downcross was formed somewhere in Minsk, Belarus.

Beginning with their 2015 Demo; Downcross already has six full-length albums (this one included) unfortunately I have never heard of them before so I’m going into White Tower very blind. But it’s all good I’ve done this before.

The opening track (and current single) “I Am Entropy” rips open a blast-filled bucket of blasphemy for its 4:54 minutes, an earwig riff starts it off shredding everything and then the thing slows to an earth-shaking crawl, the tempo shifting gears on the fly.

My Dissection radar perked up right away with “I Deny the World of Me” with it’s vicious crawl, measuring speed with rich melodic passages this track countermeasures “Lord of All Perfections” which is a savage punch of brutal Black Metal fury. Hitting some sort of acceleration from the bowels of Hell it has more of that Dissection style riffing, and fucking hell I can’t get enough of it.

The title track kicks off what I guess is the second side (in a digital world it’s not easy to tell) and it’s a relaxing 2:35 minute instrumental, a much-needed siesta before “Only Death is Faithful to You” with it’s rousing center piece that segues into “Demiurge Must Eliminate Himself” another Arkona-ish blaster.

The final two tracks “AlphaBeast WorldMurderer pt.II” Is a firebrand blitzkrieg of riffs and explosive drums that give a solid backbone to this one, they dig into some sinister grooves that will lower the temperature of the environment around you with the chilling guitar tone pouring from your speakers. “Downcross” is a slow ritual burner, a blackened hell of dancing demons, it’s a fine way to end White Tower.

The production on this release is top-notch, the guitars have bite and the bass is clear as a bell, the drums are a gut punch with each roll and fill. White Tower is a powerful-sounding album, one of those that makes you want to go outside and swing a sword around like Conan.

In conclusion; I will be going into their back catalog for more of their Black Metal attack, their take on Cosmic Black Metal (sub-genres abound.) If you like Dissection, Blut Aus Nord, or Dark Funeral, you’ll feel right at home with Downcross and the White Tower.

[Visit the band's website]

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