ninehertz

It has arrived... Shrykull’s debut album lands to a vibrant welcome party, the far and wide crusty, metalhead and doomed underground diehards of our land brought together due to the excitement generated by the Nottingham duo at gigs and on record over the last couple of years.

It does not disappoint. This is an album to really enjoy, one that pulls from various metal genre outposts, feeling like seven short stories telling a similar tale from different viewpoints. It is varied yet coherent, fun yet ferocious.

There’s the tasty black metal entree of Plagued followed by Deafened By the Echo’s hardcore with a sludge swing, right through to the final offering’s sprawling conglomeration of doom, black and grind.

Or, in between, here’s the grinding I.B.T. and the muddied death metal beginning of Destroy the Hive Mind, which evolves a rollicking momentum that you happily leap into and get carried along on. Then comes Beneath the Murk’s slow and low doom, switching into black metal bloodlust, and then back again, competing variances of grimness dependant on the velocity.

My favourite, based on early analysis of repeat plays is Life of Solitude. It is fierce as fuck Wode type black, raw and rabid, simple and effective. Yet wherever you turn there's a thrill. Shrykull is a joyful celebration of extreme metal from start to end. As such, I love it. So will you.