Casket Lullabies

It’s amazing how many unsung heroes are roaming the metal underground, some having accumulated a truckload of official releases. The band under scrutiny here can easily pass for some of the most loaded since each of their demos, with the possible exception of the “Grave Samples” one, is in fact full-fledged full-lengths lasting for way over 40-min, with a fair number of tracks, and coming with a fairly good sound quality. Why they’re listed as demos remains a mystery which even all the angels still left alive in Heaven would find hard to reveal…

anyways, hats down to the guys for persevering all the way from the late-80’s to the present day although their last so far showing dates back from 1998, the album reviewed here. Another thing immediately worth of note is that they have painstakingly held onto their staple delivery, classic thrash with a shade of death metal at times, which is characterized by ultimately heavy, steam-rolling arrangements, seismic squashing guitars which sometimes can pass for doomy tools of the trade. A monolithic, not very frequently changing approach that still leaves some room for deviations like the casual faster-paced passage, or the more technical temptation (mostly on “Blood Stained Memories”).

This effort here is a nice conglomerate of those deviations, the speedy ones in particular, as it’s the most dynamic offering from their catalogue the guys really pulling it off, consolidating their individualistic style with panache. "Wolfen" begins in the staple doom-laden manner with clever semi-technical riffage sneaking in before a very fast-paced raging stroke shocks the listener mid-way; the latter may be additionally dumbfounded by the witch-like husky vocals which are equal parts black and death metal, and come with a sinister hissing reverberation at times. "Sewn Shut Eyes" is a brilliant move to more engaging technical thrash with fine Oriental motifs circling around, but the stupendous doomy exit in the best tradition of Candlemass is also worth checking out. "Impaled Visions" is a short jumpy bouncer, nothing really fancy here, but "The Curse" is a heavy crushing saga with volcanic ship-sinking riffs lasting for whole 8-min, graced by another more dynamic speedy section. More speed is coming with the fine galloping "Throughout Oblivion", a new tool in the band's arsenal; watch out for the marvellous melodic lead passage in the middle which also springs up at the end. "Moon on the 7th" is a less exuberant stomper sounding like a leftover from Testament's "Souls of Black", and "Master of Nightmares" switches onto crushing heavy thrash ala Cerebral Fix, the Brits a very close sound-alike on other parts of the album, too, the exception coming in the form of nice melodic leads again. The band's staple style returns with "Man Eating Man" although this piece clings more towards pure doom; and "Crown of Flies" closes the album with style thrashing far and wide (and fast) with a nice Oriental tinge again without forgetting about the trademark heavy technical guitars which here simply crush skulls.

Some of the band fans may find this recording way too dynamic and unnecessarily full of energy, slightly betraying the morose depressing atmosphere instilled on the earlier instalments. Yes, it’s full of vitality and newly found vigour, but this only gives the musicians more opportunities to exhibit their skills instead of being stifled again by some of the most unbearably heavy rifforamas around. The transition already started on the mentioned “Blood Stained Memories”, but here it reaches a culmination as the guys are not restricted to an oppressive, slightly repetitive formula anymore, and yet manage to sound quite faithful to their chosen stance. This is one of the better examples when a band expand their palette by firmly preserving their roots all the way. Anyone can see the good old Angelkill behind these more vivid, bouncier ways of expression; there’s no danger anymore of the doom metal field claiming them for the earth-shaking quality of their music.

Just when a somewhat new trajectory opened before the guys with room aplenty for exploration, a gigantic period of inactivity followed suit, and still is as of now. And it can’t be any other way as there’s only one person still around from the line-up, Mike Hall aka Blakk, the band founder and vocalist, who may or may not be looking for like-minded individuals for the continuation of the Angelkill saga. Cause it’s definitely not over yet; until there isn’t even one single angel up there to open the gates of Heaven, the work of these brooding “assassins” can’t be considered finished.