Review Summary: Grab a beer, take a seat and prepare for RIFFS!
The mixture of black metal and thrash metal is a beautiful thing. They're strong enough forces on their own, but together, they form plenty of beer-soaked riff fests to bang your head along to. Sadly, the genre as a whole tends to get a bit stagnant because there's only so much you can do with each style. Riffs aplenty, yeah, but what else can bands add to the equation to spice things up? GraveRipper is a three-piece black/thrash metal band from Indiana that formed in 2019 and their 2023 debut LP,
Seasons Dreaming Death was a breath of fresh air in the black/thrash genre. Razor sharp, lo-fi production complimented the ice-covered riffs so well and really harkened back to
At the Heart of Winter-era Immortal better than most bands in the genre. So, the question is, does
From Welkin to Tundra level up or is it a sophomore slump?
Well, it's not quite as filthy as the debut with a clear improvement in the production department. The buzzsaw aspect that gave the debut its charm is all but gone and replaced by a way cleaner tone. Does it sacrifice the riffs though? The answer to that question is a resounding NO. This album is chock full of 90's black/death metal style riffing with the intensity and speed of classic 80s thrash. Each and every chord pierces the listeners ears with triumph and a passion for metal. That's the thing about albums like this, there may not be a ton to dig into beneath the surface, but the pure joy the band pours into the product is evident throughout the course of the album.
The death metal elements here really add an extra flare to an already great recipe. ‘HexenHammer’, for example, is like a furious mixture of early Morbid Angel and 90s Swedish melodic black metal. The atmosphere is frigid and the riffage sounds like Jon Nödtveidt decided to rise from the dead, chug a brew and start jamming. The guys must've been jamming a lot of mid/late-era Impaled Nazarene as well because ‘Hounds of Hell’ has a bouncy, punk-ish edge to it to compliment the thrash-tastic tremolo picked riffs. Other tracks like ‘Sanctioned Slaughter’ and ‘...And Now it's Dark’ are the most true to pure 80s thrash in the vein of the classic run from Metallica, just with some harsh death growls and glass-shattering black metal shrieks.
GraveRipper isn't in the game of really doing anything that hasn't been done before and that is perfectly fine.
From Welkin to Tundra really hones in on what makes these guys great while also adding in the aforementioned classic death metal elements to the blackened thrash goodness. This album is really an ode to bands like Celtic Frost, Darkthrone, Morbid Angel and all of the big 4 of thrash. It's a modern black/thrash/death metal album that manages to pull the listener back in time to the late 80s/early 90s with ease and eloquence.
