Bulletbelt - Down In The Cold Of The Grave
Bulletbelt is a black metal group that hails from New Zealand that has recently released their first full length debut, "Down In The Cold Of The Grave". The music is raw, powerful, and a good mix of old school black metal with modern touches so it doesn't sound too fuzzy and static laden while still providing cutting edge riffs. In fact, right from the opening track 'Storming The Armoury' which is a great instrumental one might think they were hearing melodic thrash until 'Icarus' comes in. The shrieks, the raw churning tremolo riffs and switch between blazing speeds and slower, almost techincal moments (especially with the bass) make Bulletbelt a force to be reckoned with that will appeal to fans of groups like Immortal or even Vardan. Some tracks just trudge right along with a nice black n' roll feel such as 'Into Battle' but on the downside these tracks are slightly repetitive in their riffs, but extremely catchy.
The downside is that this full length is quite short- under half an hour. Most of the tracks are solid and don't include any fillers, even though the cover of No Tag is very brief and while the band keeps up the punk tradition of the music, it doesn't quite fit the overall scope of the album's sound. The closing 'Ironclad' is highly melodic and offers Bulletbelt's most versatile piece with excellent solos and not just fast riffing all the time. The good news is that each track offers something a little different- most of the songs are mid paced and easily accessible and the riffs don't sound recycled over and over. Overall, this is a nice start for Bulletbelt and hopefully they will develop longer, more versatile pieces in the near future.
The downside is that this full length is quite short- under half an hour. Most of the tracks are solid and don't include any fillers, even though the cover of No Tag is very brief and while the band keeps up the punk tradition of the music, it doesn't quite fit the overall scope of the album's sound. The closing 'Ironclad' is highly melodic and offers Bulletbelt's most versatile piece with excellent solos and not just fast riffing all the time. The good news is that each track offers something a little different- most of the songs are mid paced and easily accessible and the riffs don't sound recycled over and over. Overall, this is a nice start for Bulletbelt and hopefully they will develop longer, more versatile pieces in the near future.
- Storming The Armoury
- Icarus
- Down In The Cold Of The Grave
- Into Battle
- Mistaken Identity (cover No Tage)
- Locust
- Ironclad
Headless Horseman
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jul 15, 2013
Jul 15, 2013
Next review:
Apophys - Promo 2013
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