Godless (...Assuming the Throne of Immortality...)

Avenger - Godless

I've been listening to this album quite a lot recently and so decided to write a review. I decided to check Avenger out after hearing them on Maniac Butcher's Best of/Tribute double CD. While Maniac Butcher is raw black metal, Avenger could best be described as blackened death.

The sound of this album reminds me of Heartwork-era Carcass and Wolverine Blues-era Entombed. The more pop oriented, verse-chorus-verse, song structures further lend a comparison but also make this album very “catchy” if there can be such a thing in extreme music. The guitars are down-tuned to something akin to C#, a Black Sabbath favorite, and the production on the guitars is very thick ala Heartwork. The third song, Before Storm, features a prominent acoustic passage throughout and reminds me of ancient Middle Eastern folk music. There are several touches such as this that keep the album fresh instead of miring in death metal clichés. The only suggestion I might have made would be to thicken the drum sound which is very close to many of the modern punk bands - tightly compressed and sans reverb.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable album. Plenty of fine Carcass/Entombed-esque riffing without ripping either of those bands off.

- darkthronerocks