After quite a lengthy pause we're back with another review. We've got a release called "Culf of the Serpent Sun" out of the United States by the Massachusetts band "Blood Stone Sacrifice". This recording has been self released so one can safely assume it is underground stuff.

"Plague of End", the first track on this album presents a good idea what the style of "Blood Stone Sacrifice" is like. Overall the sound is harsh lightly scratchy with a boost for the higher frequencies. The guitars are untamed and either not or only lightly reworked. Even some amp-hissing can be found here and there, although volume levels of the individual instruments of course seem to have been matched in "post-production". As usual with extreme metal you're greeted with loads of distortion, slower (like in the beginng of "The Birth of my Vengeance) or faster paced playing (last minutes of "Plage of End" for example). Expected dark powerchords pair with some single-note melodies, some experimentation with oriental styled melodies can be heard in the melodic part of the first song "Plague of End". Regarding the bass the focus has been set to deliver a base for the songs without too many experiments to the sound or playing style. The drums - which I think are programmed fairly - is placed close to the front of the mix, especially the cymbals stand out. The kick drum is also pretty accentuated in a balanced fashion with a tamed "kick" to it - you'll hear it plenty even without the use of subwoofers. The aforementioned cymbals often change in relation to the beats which give them some interesting moments while the fundamental backing consists of chopping blastbeats and known techniques. Finally, the vocals are rough, raspy and a little gargling, saturated with factes of Death-Metal voicework but without going in "ultra-low" vocal regions.

Bottom line is that most of the tracks (except "Vermin" which is more based on a snotty and rockish foundation) are oriented on genre-usual sounds in a "back to the roots" sense. One shouldn't wonder to encounter some stylistic sideswipes towards Darkthrone and a lot of other representatives of the underground.

> If you tend to vilify too many stylistic mashups you don't have to worry here: the compositions offer a lot of deliberately simplistic riffings without many progressive influences; which means: no unexpected instruments, no frantic transitions or 'somersaulting' tempo changes.

Interested souls can find some audio samples and the digitally buyable first two demos of this project HERE.

Tracklist:
01 Plague of End (05:00)
02 The Birth of my Vengeance (06:23)
03 The Cult of the Serpent Sun (06:10)
04 I, Predator (05:42)
05 Vermin (05:01)

Subjective impression:
"Blood Stone Sacrifice" has taken some good steps on their path. Das hier gelieferte Material ist ganz klar dem Untergrund zuzurechnen. Dieses Album hat, was mich schon immer an "echter" Tonkunst fasziniert hat: Natürlichkeit. Was man hört, sind ehrliche Aufnahmen, ohne den ganzen "modernen Plastikkram". Das Album wurde sicherlich nicht verwirklicht um jedem zu gefallen wollen was für mich ein klarer Pluspunkt ist. Spezielle Anspieltips möchte ich nicht nennen, jede Aufnahme hat für sich Aussagekraft. Persönlicher Favorit bleibt jedoch "The Birth of my Vengeance", in seiner schleppenden Aggressivität vermittelt es gepaart mit dem düsteren Verlauf die passende Stimmung. Ähnlich ist auch mein Eindruck von dem etwas schnelleren "I, Predator".

Availability:
Available.

Known formats:
CD, Download

11.02.14, M.V.