Gargantuan Blade

In certain circles, the words The Wandering Midget are enough to send an electric shiver down spines and awaken even the heavily hungover. That’s important to this first Gargantuan Blade album because Samuel Wormius seems to have chosen it as his next stop in reminding people that Reverend Bizarre’s unique style still had more to offer even after the group split up. So consider Gargantuan Blade as The Wandering Midget chapter 3 if you will, although the rest of this new quartet have nothing to do with the old line-up and the 4 songs here have a little more of a lively true metal vibe to them. Expect swords, strongmen, and mixed tempos along with the old perturbed majesty of the RevBiz vocal style. And yes, these guys are from Finland of course. I can’t say that this will win you over immediately, but it’s a very strong dose of what fans will like and remember best.

Since the album is pretty short, every song has to make its mark. Averaging 9 minutes means that everything has plenty of time to develop, though Gargantuan Blade refuse to waste time, getting even the 13 minute 'Spectral Pillagers' into shape quickly and dispensing freehanded lead guitar just 3 minutes in. That closing track may be the steadiest overall, giving a chance to show the grandeur of the band at their most serious as gloomy melodies tread over the funeral march of the riffs. The majority of the album favours that epic trudging tone, and although probably not as gloriously monotonous as the source material for Finnish doom the faster breaks seem very welcome, such as the sudden loosing of energy near the end of 'Black Lotus', while 'Necromancer’s Blood' seems to flow more easily into its own mid-paced romp and 'Dungeon Lord' anyway has its own heavy bluesy roll. What unites all these features together, however, is the enviable focus of Gargantuan Blade to make their music as impactful as possible while also keeping the ingredients simple and essential.


Originally written as part of Slow Cuts of 2022 for The Metal Observer - https://www.metal-observer.com/3.o/slow-cuts-of-2022/