This US act attracted me because the art work and logo for this album, something I used to do when finding new music years ago; sometimes it worked sometimes it did not. This band is curious as whilst the imagery and logo hint at a more extreme style of metal within the black thrash subgenre, the band prefers to keep the velocity down and ingrain all the songs with a heavy metal quotient that creates a unique approach. After a suitably eerie horror movie like intro piece the album unveils a rawness and primitiveness that I particularly liked on “Accused Sorceress” as that heavy metal posturing is intrinsically embedded into the riffs but what sets it apart then is the caustic guitar sound and relatively slow pacing on the song, and the album on the whole, embellishing it with great lead breaks, perfectly placed for maximum impact.

“Reborn In Charnel Infamy” retains that mid-tempo pacing as a chunky dense riff appears that has an occult like aura as the vocals have a gruesomely gritty tone. The tuneful opening to “Castle Of The Accursed” is heavy metal personified but the charisma is one of desolate gelidity but inherently catchy as the song delves into one of the fine solos as I felt there were hints of Witchery within the atmosphere here but not the speed of course. The atmospheric backdrop is emphasised with a cool bass riff as another harmonised like lead filters in. That use of atmosphere is amplified on “The Divine Butcheress” where a slower more pervading riff crawls and slithers manifesting rivulets of horror before the dramatic switch in pace that teeters on a blast which I felt actually diluted the power of the song.

The more upbeat “All The Black Arts At Her Command” shifts the focus to a more thrashing like poise but again the speed is restrained as the acerbic riffing is underpinned by the devilish bass work and metronomic and hypnotic drum work. Relishing a more wrathful style is “Execution Of The Plague Spreader” where some additional atmospheric effects are added to the rapidity of the songs riffing, leaving only the corrosive intent of “The Morta-Possessed” to nail home the abrasive nature of this album where the vocals have the blackened edge making this a lot more extreme than it actually is but they suit the acrimonious and acrid guitar sound on an album saturated in melody but exerting a biting and equally nasty assault on the listener.

(7.5/10 Martin Harris)

https://www.facebook.com/vaultwraith

https://vaultwraith-us.bandcamp.com/album/light-the-candle-in-honour-of-devils