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SHRIKE
Sieben

Self-released (2014)
Rating: 6/10

Shrike is a German black metal act with a difference! Adding extra charred chunks of flesh to their new album, these guys have an extra something when it comes to vomiting out their brand of filth.

The quintet have been around since 2006 and released debut platter Meine Wucherung the same year, but after that they went extremely quiet, and didn’t release a follow-up until 2013 in the form of Hinab in die Vertraute Fremdheit. Although both those records were decent, this new one – whose title translates as Seven – is easily the best of the bunch.

Vocally, Uwe has a hoarse approach rather than the usual remote squawk we’ve become accustomed to with so many black metal bands. Around him the music feels loose, catchy and dense, bringing with it a raw, buzzing guitar sound that is backed by those rather infernal drums of Moe. The combo have found an interesting mix of black and death metal with a doomy edge when they choose to slow things down, especially on the evil sounding ‘Kadaver’ with its catchy riffs.

My only issue with this five-track album is that despite its change in tempo and combination of styles, it can become a tad bland in its cavernous state. The musicianship is basic and simply to the point, particularly with the faster passages. With the aforementioned ‘Kadaver’ the act really does become a force to be reckoned, but this doesn’t happen enough for my liking. Even so, there is a vein of aggression throughout this opus, which becomes evident with the hostile ‘Shrike’ and the album closer, ‘Grimassen’. The latter begins in typical black metal fashion with its scathing guitars and rapid drums, but the track develops into quite a nasty, moody surprise a quarter of the way through, showcasing starker passages in the guitar and with the drums being more sparse.

However, because it’s such a short composition as albums go, Shrike should have learned to have offered a bit more, because although Sieben is their strongest work to date, it’s not a chunk of blackened metal you’ll be reaching for that often. What makes the album so listenable is the guitar tone, bestowing a really stuffy feel upon the platter, but vocally this isn’t anything new. Although I can sense the ambition is there to create something different, they need to put the thoughts into practice more often, and only then will Shrike become something more than just another deathly black metal band.

Neil Arnold

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