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BLACK FAST
Spectre Of Ruin

eOne (2018)
Rating: 8.5/10

Progressive black metal is what’s on the menu here, Black Fast being a St. Louis, Missouri-based act that relies heavily on scarring, frosty melodies and the scratchy vocal prowess of Aaron Akin.

Spectre Of Ruin is the third outing from the quartet, the band carving out large chunks of catchy and often mid-paced brilliance that adheres to the grim, icy black metal formulas and yet offers more melodious strains and clever, conniving segments.

The outing comes with eight tracks, all of which are infectious creations featuring angular guitar work, potent drum slams but most of all a black / thrash freshness of serious quality. When the combo exhibits brisk strains (‘Cloak Of Lies’), there’s still that dominant melody; Trevor Johanson’s guitar sound is immense and spiteful while Ross Burnett’s percussions digs its talons in to work in tandem with Ryan Thompson’s abrasive bass tone.

For me, it’s like a barbaric, seething mix of Vektor, Sadus, Coroner and later Death, but all tarred with a wiry black metal brush. This one brims with dry technicality and arrogance, swaggering and cocksure as Akin’s despicable squawks lead us through this barbed and ultimately grey network of hazards. The likes of ‘Scarecrow And Spectre’, ‘Mist Of Ruin’ and ‘Famine Angel’ bring an almost starved sound, as if all instruments present are straining at the leash but not restricted.

‘Silhouette Usurper’ brings a devilish traditional metal melody and taints it with a stark, dehydrated viciousness as the band operates on a steady level of riff and percussion, which is also evident on tracks such as ‘Phantom I Am’ and ‘Husk’.

The posse work on a tight deadline whereby everything zips even when the tempos are slower, and with that formula Black Fast has somehow created its own bleak environment. The bleak environment is a place that is also bizarrely comforting as us progressive thrashers revel in what is not the most bewildering album, but is a record which is wiry in nature. The slim and yet muscular anthems rush with pale aplomb, snagging on the skin and clenched. The steely, frost-bitten mechanics are cold to the touch but also enveloping as the guitars perform acrobatics within a prog-minded framework, but while adhering to black-thrash values.

Spectre Of Ruin is a fine record bulging with confident smirks and sinewy rhythms.

Neil Arnold

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