Weapon - 'From The Devil's Tomb'

First, congratulations to Weapon for what must be the best black metal song title ever: “Lefthandpathyoga.” It immediately summoned images, not of demons and blasphemous rituals, but of housewives performing the downward dog pose on yoga mats decorated with Baphomet symbols. I’m not sure that’s what The Ajna Offensive envisioned when thinking about marketing the album. But it made me like this idiosyncratic effort that much more.

From The Devil’s Tomb is generating late buzz as one of the best albums of the year. Is it? No, but it’s among the better releases. Guitarist and vocalist Vetis Monarch – a Canadian originally from Bangladesh – doesn’t sound like anyone or anything playing black metal. From The Devil’s Tomb doesn’t fall into the I-want-to-be-in-Norway-in-the-'90s camp or the bedroom black metal genre. It’s proof that there is lots of life in the old horse yet. You just might need to come from a remote corner of the world to find it.

The album has a beefy sound that’s layered with subtle beauty. Middle Eastern flourishes flow into militia-worthy aggression.  The blastbeats and tremolo picking of “Furor Divinus” are married with majestic solos. “Vested In Surplice and Violet Stole,” (repeat ten times) is like a heaping of early Marduk arm-wrestling with Exodus. And “The Inner Wolf” opens with vaguely Egyptian choral sounds and two riffs most other bands would covet. It’s a buffet of musical riches.

From The Devil’s Tomb is a leap ahead of the notable Drakonian Paradigm. I wouldn't even consider it a pure black metal record but rather one that fuses the genre with the best elements of tech death. It’s not album of the year caliber but that’s certainly within reach for this talented band. And it’s still growing on me.

(released November 23, 2010 on Ajna Offensive)

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.