It’s time to get “rattled” by Estertor who have given us a game to play with these tales, guess the horror films that the songs take their inspiration from? We have been given a couple of answers and some titles are a bit too generic to fathom but its all part of the fun here. As the band hail from the crypts and caverns of Catalonia I immediately went in search of terrifying Templars but drew a blank, where can they be? The tombs of the blind dead were resurrected on debut album ‘Buried In Morningside’ along with the likes of other classics Re-Animator and Nekromantik. This band is obviously close to my beating, bloody heart before we even get to the music.

What a blood feast that is too as Estertor play a barraging form of black thrash which is distinctly old-school in flavour and goes like the veritable clappers. First stop is ‘Assimilating Flesh’ and where is the best place to do this? Well, the Antarctic of course. The band stoke up their Thing with some doomy Sabbathian licks before unleashing a death belch and going haywire. We are introduced to vocalist Edu aka Paingrinder and the Onirophagus throat slinger really puts his mark upon things. Bellowing forth his austere and wizard-like tones with clean and elongated power booming from his diction it’s a stand out display not a million miles from someone such as Big Boss from Root. Shouting out “fire, fire” as the guitars rage around one gets the essence of shape-shifting monstrosities put to the flame in the cold hostile wastes where a rescue party will definitely not be coming to offer salvation. ‘Venereal Horror’ takes us surely to Starliner Towers as it chunders and gives us the Cronenburgian Shivers. Guitars crawl like maggots and solos slither along with them leaving a trail of slime and carnage in their wake. Thick bass and chugging riffs have a bit of the grinding power of Necrophagia about them but those vocals hoary and aloft really bring the horror. ‘Nocturnal Strigoi’ goes straight for the neck and at under the three-minute mark immediately put the bite in. There’s some absolutely mad guitarwork flailing over this one and it’s a pure headbanging thrashathon and a half. Gloomy, guitar work gives a chance for a quick breath as ‘The Torch That Corrupted the Earth’ brings alien terror and destruction. There’s gang vocal shouts rallying up behind the hoary main sermon and foul death belches, crashing drums and galloping rhythms on this one. Lovecraft and The Colour Out Of Space courtesy of David Keith’s ‘The Curse’ is the source material for this (and yeah I had to dig this info up).

Next stop is surely Jackie Kong’s Blood Diner for an all you can eat buffet. ‘Blood For Sheetar’ is a brash and punky pogo brawl that is guaranteed to get you bouncing up and down with cannibalistic glee. ‘Repugnant Face of Death’ is by comparison utterly grim and here we have a sample quickly giving the game away. Estrator have not gone down the Mortician route and littered the album with these, making this stop off on the streets of New York stalked by Joe Spinell in all his Maniac glory all the more effective. Complete with soundtrack melodies and a solo guaranteed to scalp you this one hits all the right marks and proves a great homage to William Lustig’s finest moment. The title track hints towards an anthology piece as far as I can guess and comes complete with a midpoint guitar solo wrapping itself around this Creepshow like a skeletal hand. If they weren’t so old school ‘Worship the Black Goat’ could well allude to ‘The Witch’ one of the best modern horror films of recent years. It’s pretty vile vocally full of fetid gut coughing up moments and what ever form of Goat Worship it portrays I’m sold. The finale takes us to the just re-released on Blu-Ray classic The Sentinel made by Michael Winner back in 1977 and it’s a devilish romp to the finish flinging the gates of hell wide open.

Yep, this is a fun one for all you guys and ghouls who love your black thrash and horror. Estertor came as an authentic delight and reminded me of some films I need to dig out and rewatch while they were at it.

(7.5/10 Pete Woods)

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https://estertorthrash.bandcamp.com/album/tales-from-the-ancient-grave