I really enjoyed ‘Born In Thorns, The 3rd Attempt’s 1st Attempt, now a couple of years after that, this is their 2nd. Containing ex members of Carpathian Forest Tchort and Blood Pervertor who no doubt got a bit fed up with Nattefrost bringing that group back from the woodworm they joined forces with Tybalt of Curse and Den Saakaldte and vocalist Ødemark formerly of Midnattsvrede & Necrocave. The result was a black thrashing tumult of old school black metal, full of catchy hooks, evil snarls and a few surprises along the way. They backed it up with a pretty impressive show here too supporting Taake so I was keen to hear what worthless direction their Egocidal Path was going to take them!
Luckily it’s far from worthless and these 8 new tracks, as the first of them attests, are full of a sound forged by ‘Blood, Dope and Black N Roll.’ Who could ask for anything more? Backing yells and a punky bombast bomb in proving there is something speedier than the use of stoner additives at play here. Some strange and solemn spoken word parts show that the singer is not going to be all about the snarling, which he does well enough but is going to be far from one-dimensional during the course of the album. A big bass groove and coarse lead lined drum attack power away as do the jagged melodies from the guitar adding a distinction and voice to it all. Yep you can hear the influence spilling over from the former woody furrow of that previous now reformed band but they have certainly moved on from it too and moulded the 3rd Attempt as a new form rather than any continuation from the past. Head-banging is mandatory and there is a sense of fun and humour about everything that is conveyed from the natural style of the players but without them negating the seriousness of their craft in the slightest. Some choral symphonic parts are subtly at play adding atmosphere and become more noticeable as we reach ‘Into The Light’ which also gives a snatch of the clean vocals that worked so well on a couple of songs last album. Some thorny guitar work is left to prickle away in a solo spot and a death grunt is unleashed allowing everything to drop back in and bounce away to conclusion. A bit of a death march sees ‘Reflections about Knives’ sharpen the armoury and tyrant spoken words juggle with the blades of the guitar work here magnificently before the full cut and thrust of the song stabs and slashes away. It’s full on chug mode with the title number which blackly bruises with vocals being particularly venomous and blood-curdling and the rhythm thrashing away for all its worth. You know this one is going to be particularly vile and violent live and the good news is that due to a recent alliance forged with the UK’s Eradication Booking Agency it shouldn’t be too long before we get the chance to witness this.
We were slightly teased with the clean vocals earlier but they come into full effect on ‘I’ll Do It Now’ and the singer does indeed do it with the croons quite magnificently rising. Perhaps a bit of that Green Carnation magic has crept into things but it certainly works here and along with the sharp melody this song really delivers on all fronts. With some very metal licks invading a Motorhead charge pervades into ‘The Disciples’ and its total wreck your neck time. Fire is definitely in the belly of this beast and they speed up even faster ‘Black Metal Alchemist’ being a potent brew of old school Venom worship designed to give you whiplash and they totally hurtle towards the end signing ‘The Oath’ in blood and leaving you feeling somewhat breathless.
It took a few spins for this to grip in entirely as from memory did the 1st Attempts 1st (nope don’t overuse a bad pun). Once this one gets you though, you’ll want to spin it again and again. Hopefully it won’t be long before we are catching these songs live, I wonder what the chances are of them supporting Carpathian Forest?
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply