Huronian is an Italian band playing melodic blackened death metal. They released an ep in 2020 and those three songs make their way onto this debut album As Cold as a Stranger Sunset. 9 songs in 41 minutes.  After a brief intro “Portals to the Unspeakable” blasts through the speakers with a great riff and blast. Incredible guitar melodies.  The band members go by initials, anyway, the vocalist does a pretty cool John Tardy impersonation. Vocals are understandable, enunciated well with some cool growls. The song slows then off to the races with the blast beats. Around the 3 minute mark there’s a nice part with the blast and growl over the blast.  Nice ending growl to the song.

“A Tale of Frost and Stone” is up next and opening slower in nature.  The vocals at this point, which I started to notice on the opening track, begin to grate on me.  The John Tardy style works however it sounds maybe as if he’s oversinging- listen and tell me what you think like the vocals are maybe too high in the mix?  That could be it or maybe, because aside from his killer growls, his vocal tone never alternates so it becomes a bit monotone.  Regardless; the music is cool with some well-placed pinch harmonics and thunderous drumming.

“Hopeless Barricade” has some nice guitar melodies and the riffing is fast and heavy over the blast and the vocalist goes into a lower register at points and this definitely breaks up the vocal tones, making the variety a welcome addition to these ears.  A rather short song but it hits the mark really well. Well placed growls over the blast beats too.

“Shadow Cast by Eternal Sails” has many melodic passages with the riffing. I think this may be the most melodic track on the album.  Excellent riffing and then ending with an acoustic part.

Huronian’s debut As Cold as a Stranger Sunset is nicely crafted and the black metal influences are not as apparent as I first thought they’d be.  Vocals need to continue with different tones but by and large this is a decent debut.  The production does have organic elements and the musicianship overall is well represented and fits nicely with other melodic death metal bands.  The tempo shifts of blast beats and slower moments, which at times has atmospheric tendencies, are all varied and gel nicely. The album cover has some Dan Seagrave influence, so that’s a plus. Check Huronian out.

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