Weapon– From the Devil’s Tomb

Being a black metal band led by a Bangladeshi-Canadian might set you apart from all the ‘depressive’ American and Darkthrone-ite Scandinavian bands at first, but that counts for squat if you haven’t got the music to back up your claim to uniqueness. Thankfully, Weapon have, and not just because of leader Vetis Monarch’s particular philosophy, which he brands ‘Lefthandpathyoga’ (which, incidentally, is also the name of Entombed’s new workout DVD!). Weapon are superficially a black metal band, but there’s a surprising amount of variation in their sound on this album. The densest, most claustrophobia-inducing black metal is fused with shades of ‘tech-death’, and riffs that bring to mind Slayer at their most spooky. They’re also occasionally reminiscent of Nile, due to the oddly Middle Eastern-sounding death metal riffs, though the band are no strangers to groovy thrash riffs too. The guitar solos are by turns hot-rocking air guitar, and deliciously abstract chromatic wails from unknown eldritch depths. Yeah, they’re going to be one of those bands that inspire journalists to write ridiculous sentences like that one. Despite being ‘black metal’ the nearest frames of reference for this band are not the Norwegian stalwarts of that genre, but Morbid Angel, thanks not only to their devotion to esoteric philosophy, but also their ability to combine a sound of pure malevolence and Lovecraftian horror with memorable songs. Weapon have been lurking on the fringes of the metal world for a while now, and hopefully this will be the album to bring them the wider recognition they undoubtedly deserve.

Review by EDMUND CHAPMAN
‘From the Devil’s Tomb’ is out now on Agonia

You’ll like this if...

You’ll like this if… you want extreme metal bands to sound scary while still writing proper songs. You know? Like they used to!