Brood In Black – Black Unholy Mass
Kentucky, USA
Blasfemas Records
Brood In Black hail from from the city of Lancaster (there’s another Lancaster in England, but the weather looks a bit crappy there) situated in Kentucky, USA, and the aptly titled “Black Unholy Mass” is their latest offering of pure unadulterated black metal darkness.
Brood In Black are one of those bands that’s 100% loyal to the spirit of old-school black metal. They evoke an atmosphere that takes us back to the first and second wave of black metal with a sound reminiscent of bands like Beherit, Countess, Bathory, etc. That’s not to say that Brood In Black is some boring, uninspired clone of the aforementioned bands; they do their thing well and I happen to enjoy this kind of no-frills, straight-forward black metal, and in the case of Brood In Black, they execute their craft with absolute zeal and fervour. The overall length of "Black Unholy Mass” exceeds the 30 minute mark, which is quite a satisfying duration for a demo.
Performance-wise, the songs are pretty simple and by no means technical, but that’s also one of the band’s strong points. The vocals are appropriately raw, evil, and full of acrimony which gives the music a really unsettling feel. Everything goes together decidedly well, whether it’s the inventive drum fills, the skull-grating buzzsaw riffs, or the venom-spitting vocals.
If you think words like “raw” and “simplistic” are a warning flag for “unprofessional”, then avoid this at all costs – especially if you’re a hipster who think it’s cool to listen to black metal after watching the abominable Lords Of Chaos film. This is about as austere, bleak, bitter and unoriginal as any black metal you can find, but that’s the fucking beauty of it. There’s absolutely no compromise for trends. (HT)