Knights of the Abyss - Shades (Album)
I love riffs. Can’t get enough. Sure, I love a bit of shoe-gazing, a la Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine, and all their mates, but at the end of the day I firmly believe in the little known 11th commandment- ‘Guitar strings shall only be plucked one at a time (and certainly never whilst coveting your neighbours wife)’. Wordy, sure, but very true at the same time.
I have a particular image of my own birth. It entails my mother, a midwife… and Eddie Van Halen in the corner frying his fret boards with an almighty guitar workout (with Ritchie Blackmore standing in the wings ready to take over in case EVH broke a string). After I am born I quickly thank the doctor with a nod, raise my skinny fist to the sky, and commence doing the angel fingers in my first demonstration of air guitar, riff worshipping. This scenario is unlikely I know, and was constantly denied by my parents, but never the less… possible. My point is, at some point in my early life I developed a love of the riff, and it lingers with me to this day. This brings me to Knights of the Abyss and their album Shades.
From the constantly impressive and eclectic Stomp stable, Knights of the Abyss provide one of the highlight metal releases of the year. The highlight of the show here is the musicianship. The guitar work is just relentless, with massive riffs interspersed with showers of descending jagged guitar lines. The playing is intricate and diverse, and at breakneck speed. Drumming throughout by ex-Job for a Cowboy Andy Rysdam is powerful and first-class. Tempos never lag, which is a good thing because this form of thrash/hardcore can get bogged down. Two vocalists are on show. The main duties are provided in a scratchy growl that works well here. Back-up vocals are a sort of sub-growl that is reminiscent of the altered telephone voice of a kidnapper sounds stupid but it actually pretty threatening. Together they won’t appeal to fans of the Everly Brothers, but it is probably one of the more menacing duos getting around.
Stand-out tracks are the twin pillars tracks 5 and 6, Don’t Feed the Heathens and Running Out of Earthly Wealth, respectively, and track 9 Suicide Reign. As per usual, Metal along with Country and Western, always throws up some cracker track titles. Included here is Whorror Storm and Behold the Frigid Realm of Div.
As I said, this is my stand-out metal release for the year. Intricate, complex, powerful, and at times brutal. The album is out on the 21st of June through Stomp. Get it.
