Year: 2019
Total Time: 53:04
Label: Nuclear Blast
Strigoi (English: striga, poltergeist) in Romanian mythology are troubled spirits that are said to have risen from the grave. They are attributed with the abilities to transform into an animal, become invisible, and to gain vitality from the blood of their victims.
Gregor Mackintosh (PARADISE LOST), Christ Casket (EXTREME NOISE TERROR). When it was announced that we were expecting their new album, there was only excitement in the metal community and their respective audiences. What they needed was for them to drop a bomb on the metal community and let the world stand in awe. And that’s exactly what they did.
“Abandon All Faith” blends the backgrounds of both of them and creates something truly unique. The genry they playing, though we’d rather not give it a label, is a kind of a Blackened Death Metal, almost doomy in a sense. In it one can hear the Death’n ‘roll influences of the Norwegian pioneers, the technique from the Death Metallers of the Florida scene, some Doom and Grind influences. All of these are beautifully mixed and create a unique idiom, which is not copying anything and anyone, as is oftenis the case nowadays. It’s likely that each of you will be interested a little more in some different parts of the album, depending on the sound of each one. Seven Crowns could be said to be one of the many highlights.
The vocals are deep, brutal and blend in very nicely with the direction the band chose to take. Making what is being said understood is more of an option, and serves a specific purpose, which we will mention below. The production has this filthiness needed for a Death’n’Roll band and is very reminiscent of BLOODBATH’s production in ‘Resurrection Through Carnage’, but it is just a bit more modern, especially in the drum sound, where it is cleaner. But the guitar distortion in particular is there. “Abandon All Faith” has this TRIPTYKON feeling also. All this creates a satanic feeling and an evil aura. The duo are not afraid to take risks, as the tempo changes frequently. The album starts faster, but in the middle, we are being traveled through some mid tempo situations. But that is being executed perfectly and one can easily understand that they know what they are doing and that this is a release that has a lot to say and it’s a quality release.
Heavy, satanic, extreme, fast and mid tempo. This is what makes this album so special. If you like DEATH META, but you like the extreme sound in particular, and especially the bands that like to blend in various extreme genres, you should definitely check out this release. If you are not that into this sound, this one is still well worth it.
Rating: 7.5/10
Editor: George K
Related Link: Strigoi – Facebook Page
