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VINCENT CROWLEY
Anthology Of Horror

Hammerheart (2024)
Rating: 8/10

Welcome to the haunted house of Vincent Crowley, a Columbus, Ohio-based clan fronted by former Nocturnus, Acheron and Church Of Satan member Vincent Crowley. Making up the rest of the cult are guitarists Art Taylor and Eric Stewart, bassist Tim Wilson and drummer Ryan Arter.

The music these guys make they have described as “macabre metal”, a splendidly gothic entangled web of doom, death and black metal that one moment nods towards Candlemass, the next Mercyful Fate. A rather fitting tome then for a night by the flickering flames while the cold winds outside howl and the creaking trees moan. Dark metal it is then; ghoulishly atmospheric with each trudge and command, spookily invested with each suspenseful chord and, ultimately, a fiendishly constructed magnum opus rich with streaking axe work, crystal percussion and Vincent’s black bellows of death.

From the opening theatrics of ‘Amityville’s Horror’ to the brooding yet majestic ‘That Which Lurks Below The Sea’ and the simmering ‘Under The Hanging Tree’, this is a release with a devilish grin and a glint in its eye. No surprise really that the album should climax with a cover of King Diamond’s ‘Killer’ (an exclusive bonus track on the CD version), but long before such drama we are enticed by so many reaching warm flames.

The steady power of ‘Gods Of Crimson Cullings’, the nifty ‘Nowhere To Hyde’ and the more traditional melodious morbidity of ‘Madame Laveau (Voodoo Queen)’ paint pictures of cinematic horrors from a bygone era, daunting every image and musical accompaniment in a film of crackling noir. ‘Coupe De Poudre’ chugs like a ghost train appearing from the fog, while ‘Blood Moon Lycanthropy’ instils further dread with its measured, shadowy chords.

It’s all here, a full blown gothic Halloween hoedown led by a seething, scowling vocal that rakes your throat like vampyric fangs. Yes, the echoes of Acheron still linger like ghostly wisps, but this is very much a Crowley record that leaves a musty scent and traces of blood long after it has left the room.

Neil Arnold

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