Though Moribund Records is often more known for its ambient black metal roster, they also seem to have a boner for gnarly old school black/death metal like Drawn and Quartered, Hacavitz, Summon, Godless Rising, Satan’s Host and Canada’s Grimbane.

Consisting of main man Barbarous who some may recognize from the his days in War metal outfit Blasphemy as well as Necrosleezer, Procreation and Godless North and is joined by three of his Odin’s Law and Anti-Christ buddies, Grimbane is old school, anti Christian blackened death/war metal that’s surprisingly melodic amid its gritty tremolo picked throes.

Armed with a primal guitar tone, surly rasps and plenty of samples and interludes, Let the Empires Fall is 15 short spurts of solid if unspectacular material that displays a few moments of enjoyment within its old school gait. Some riffs such as the rather tasty tremolo harmony that slices into “Terrorize Christians”, the opening riff of “Instinct of Iniquity”, the rather restrained acoustics that appear in the “Cauldron of Burning Oil” and “God Cremated” and again more surprising melody for closer “Before the First Day” show that Barbarous has some crafty, more melodic riffs up his sleeve when not falling into the genres usual trappings.

However, the rest of the album (that’s not between song intros) is a fairly standard, spikes, leather ‘n’ denim, sneer and blast mix (“Obscurity Reigns”, “Unscrupulous Religion”, “Overlord of Chaos and Evil”, “Theomicrans Descend On Angels”) that while erstwhile and full of honest, no frills blasphemous noise, are fairly run of the mill. That being said, if the next effort can deliver more of the very subtle melodies amid the carnage, I’ll definitely check it out.

[Visit the band's website]

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