Feral Horde - Progressive Downfall CD

FERAL HORDE (Ontario, Canada) - Progressive Downfall CD (2003).  After hearing Feral Horde's demo from last year, I wasn't quite prepared for the exponential increase in quality on this debut full-length, self-released CD.  This 9-track disc is a tour-de-force of original, creative Black Metal with zero pretention and plenty of promise for future endeavours.

After a brief acoustic intro piece, the title track is a vicious kick in the head - melodic, searing tremolo riffs intersperse with more traditional chord-based Black Metal riffing driven by simple, effective drumming and vocals alternating between a pained shriek and a bellowing death-growl, with occasional moments of moaned semi-spoken oratories.

The album's content pretty much evolves from this base - each song is based around this formula, but it never becomes stale - rather, every song presents a new, fresh twist on the band's unique approach.  The guitarists get to show off during the third track "Defrocked", which is a ripping 6:27 instrumental, then "Vagabond" inflicts further damage with a punishing Dissection-ish main riff. In fact, early Dissection is a very prominent influence here, the songs sharing a similar sense of movement. 

Following this is another instrumental, this time an ambient, acoustic piece, then the true highlight of the album - "Tool Of Damnation". This reworked demo song really benefits from the improved mix and clarity of instruments, shoving it's deranged Abigor-ish main riff to the forefront while Ivan goes berserk behind the mic.

Currently this is only available directly from the band, but it's most definitely worth the effort. Any fan of melodic, stark Black Metal owes it to themself to check this one out.  **originally published on metal-archives.com by chaossphere**  Not On Label (Feral Horde Self-Released)