Join me on a journey deep into the underground; you may well need a hard hat and a torch for this one! `From the Devil’s Tomb’ is the sophomore release of Canadian black metal underground luminaries Weapon, and it’s certainly a far cry from the current `flavour of the month’ black metal bands you see on the covers of various metal magazines, or posing for photographs; this lot are far more likely to be sitting in a dark cave, drinking blood and doing something involving goats.
I read somewhere that this band were `black/thrash’ and already had a preconception of what they would sound like. Don’t make the same mistake I did, there is so much more to this album than a simple mix of thrash and black metal. I was already prepared to be disappointed when I put the CD on, but low and behold – I had to eat my words pretty quickly!
There are several words that describe this album perfectly; dark, heavy, mystical, epic are the four in particular that repeatedly come to mind when letting this juggernaut roll over you. Forget thin, badly produced black metal that sounds like it was recorded in a snowstorm, and is as heavy as a sheet of paper; this album is satisfyingly heavy and dark. It has an underground quality for sure, but the production, and in particular the guitar sound has a lot of bite, and a fair bit of weight too, making it really enjoyable to listen to from the start.
Musically, Weapon seem to be an impressively diverse outfit. There are of course, moments of frantic and nasty, evil Black Metal blasting, as well as some huge, meaty thrashing riffs. However, one can also find some great majestic, epic moments, mournful melodies and hypnotic, drifting passages. Vetis Monarch and his evil crew are masters of mournful, melodic single-note riffs; something which I think makes them quite distinctive. There is a subtle hint of Asian music amidst the swirling metal darkness, which may not be too much of a surprise; Bangladesh-born Vetis Monarch recorded the band’s first demo in Bangladesh, before relocating to Canada. The Eastern influence is a subtle one, and blended brilliantly with the dark, sombre metal riffs it creates quite a uniquely sorrowful feeling. The album is broken up with a great instrumental `LEFTHANDPATHYOGA’ which has some classic metal influences in there; I can hear touches of old Iron Maiden and Metallica, and it occasionally reminds me of Manilla Road. On the other songs, Weapon remind me every now and then of various different extreme metal acts; sometimes I can hear old Vital Remains in the more frenetic, evil blasting parts, and occasionally the majestic single note melodies remind me slightly of Darkmoon, or even Abigor. Some of the mournful solos take me straight back to `Shades of God’ era Paradise Lost too!
There is only one criticism of the album as far as I can see; the vocals tend to take too much of a background role. They don’t really stand out enough for my tastes, and are too deeply hidden inside the music. Personally I’d like to hear more clearly what the vocalist is snarling about!
Repeated listens really allow this album to breathe, and that’s when the listener really benefits, discovering all the hidden depths of Weapon’s music layer by layer. For fans of dark, epic and heavy black or death metal – I can’t recommend this enough.
http://www.myspace.com/theweaponchakra
http://www.weaponchakra.com/
