Published: Absolute Underground #51 April/May 2013
Lightning Swords of Death from L.A. has released their first new material in about 3 or 4 years. Some people thing they are too mainstream because they have toured with Danzig and are signed to MetalBlade but I disagree. I don't think you have to be on an obscure label that only releases 666 copies to be a good black metal band. It doesn't really seem like they do anything except what they do for themselves. Either way this is their second release on MetalBlade.
The title track starts it off with a good bit of atmosphere. Keeping it mid-tempo throughout the whole song. For "Acid Gate" and "Psychic Waters" they speed it up a bit and you can really hear the Marduk influence. Autarch's chanting on "Acid Gate" could give people chills, not me of course but some people. Then there's a breif instrumental that sound a lot like the background music in an old horror film. You know the part where the chick from the 70's is wandering through a basement about to find true evil? After this I think the album really comes together. The last 4 songs are the best 4 in my opinion. "Chained to Decay" has a good grinding quality throughout the whole song, not really ever speeding up but keeping you interested.I would have to say "Epicyclarium" would be my favorite songs on here. It's the longest one too at almost 8 minutes but it has some great tempo changes and I just like the feel of it.
Overall I think this is a pretty solid album. It starts well and ends well and there wasn't a song on there that I didn't like at all. Each song has great drumming and there is solid guitar work to be heard at several points. I'm a sucker for a good riff and was happy to hear quite a few. It all had a pretty evil feeling to it which I think is the point of the genre. Of course in the end I'm not one of those black-metal guys so I might not know what I'm talking about. They do have a video that's pretty easy to find so I'm sure anyone can locate their music on the internets. They look to have a pretty DIY attitude so they'd likely appreciate the $10 if you bought a CD. In my uneducated and nearly pointless rating system I guess I'd give this one 4 goats out of 5.
Michael F. Carnage
http://www.facebook.com/lightningswordsofdeath
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