From the promotional email: FFO: Mental Cruelty, Worm Shepherd, Lorna Shore

Yep, I’m in.

How these Brits haven’t been on my radar before this EP is a mystery to me. They play my favorite genre of music right now and reside on one of the better independent labels doing said genre. But trust me after hearing Frigore Inferni (“Freezing Hell”), I have checked out the band’s debut EP, Conjuring Damnation,  and full-length debut from 2022, Omnimalevolent.

And while those releases are damn good, Frigore Inferni sees the band take the expected leap and bound in improvement, especially, as with many of their peers, improved and more epic orchestration/symphonic elements, think Mental Cruelty‘s jump from Inferis, to A Hill to Die Upon and then Zwielicht. Or Bonecarver’s Evil to Carnage Funeral.

While the band had plenty of orchestration on Omnimalevolent (courtesy of drummer Bruno Clay), they were not a constant element, but on Frigore Inferni they have made the material much ‘blacker’ and the orchestration reflects it with constant bombast and dramatic keys that at times imbue fellow Brits Cradle of Filth.

Listen, if you are one of the folks who hate any of the above bands’ styles, don’t even bother here. But if you enjoy them, this is a prime example of the style. But whereas Omnimalevolent was a little more about more direct deathcore with some orchestral injections, it takes one listen to the opening salvo of the EPs first track “I, Apollyon”, to hear that the band has taken more of a blacker lean, especially with more dramatic symphonics and choirs and the riffs between the breakdowns, much like Mental Cruelty‘s Zwielicht.

The killer second track, “Obsidian Sol” follows suit with more impressive black metal riffage, orchestration, breakdowns, and uber-demonic vocals (which are the norm now), and the next four songs do it as well, six songs, 30 minutes, not bad for an EP. Notably, the fucking epic title track, and “Prince Ov Death”  and closer, “Winter’s Rite” which both have sneaky good black metal melodies in the riffs that really stand out and show these guys really know what they are doing. They could be a bright star on the scene if they keep it up.

Like excellent releases from Eden Adversary and Enemies Everywhere in 2024, this makes no bones about its Lorna Shore (Immortal era) influence and wears them brazenly on its sleeve and its album art (which is a blue version of Immortal’s cover, complete with sigil and crescent moon in the logo). But as Oscar Wilde said, Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, and Mental Cruelty and Lorna Shore should be flattered to death.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments