RSS Feed


SMOULDER
Violent Creed Of Vengeance

Cruz Del Sur Music (2023)
Rating: 8.5/10

A new Smoulder album is always going to be a worthy addition to the record collection, especially when adorned on Michael Whelan artwork and featuring Michael Moorcock’s narration on the track ‘Victims Of Fate’.

As expected, Violent Creed Of Vengeance consists of more bristling, crackling epic heavy metal monoliths which are no stranger to doomier sways. Couple this with the general feel of a sorcery-soaked novel and you just know that Smoulder are drawing you in like the yellowing pages of a 70s fantasy book. Track titles such as ‘Spellforger’, ‘Midnight In The Mirror World’, ‘The Talisman And The Blade’ and ‘Dragonslayer’s Doom’ are bewitching enough, but when constructed musically of colossal riffs, pounding percussion and Sarah Ann’s vibrant vocals one cannot help but reach out to the fighting fantasy child within and join these Canadian dungeon keepers on their journey through dragon-scorched wastes and orc-ravaged kingdoms.

The album only offers seven prime cuts but several are lengthy tapestries constructed of mystical energies that may conjure the spirit of Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road, but hey, there is more to Smoulder than token metal mimicry. The opening title track has that nostalgic and epic traipse due to its steely riffs and Sarah Ann’s emphatic croons, while ‘Path Of Witchery’ is traditionally brisk in nature. However, nothing really comes close to the grandiose statement of ‘Dragonslayer’s Doom’ which is not as lethargic as its title or opening chords may suggest.

For me, the cover art says it all as Smoulder dishes up another atmospheric slab of mesmeric majesty, and while layers of teenage cheese exist within the esoteric levels of Mordor, Violent Creed Of Vengeance remains a spellbinding sophomore composition that stinks of gargoyle leather and wyvern shit.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share