Black Lava – Savage Winds Of Wisdom
Black Lava – Savage Winds Of Wisdom
Seasons of Mist
14/07/2024
Running Time: 47:12
Review by Oli Gonzalez
8/10
Black Lava. Australia’s answer and solution to Blackened Death Metal, currently signed to Seasons Of Mist. In some ways, a passion project for four musicians based from other big hitting Australian Metal projects ranging from Vipassi and A Million Dead Birds Laughing through to the mighty Ne Obliviscaris. The creative foundation and master plan was devised during the Covid years, with Dan and Ben beginning to conduct writing sessions and exploring a much darker and heavier sound. Cathartic expression for the frustration and negative emotions that came from isolation and lockdown. The band’s debut album “Soul Furnace” was the product of this and was released in 2022, and are on the verge of their latest release, “Savage Winds Of Wisdom”.
The album kicks off with ‘Colour Of Death’. An encouraging start indeed, I particularly enjoyed the pacing of the song, slowly building tension and heightened anticipation from the onset. The music does all the talking with no vocals here until around the two and a half minute mark. This is when the fury of Rob Watkins’ primitive growls and ferocious screams are unleashed onto your ear drums! This is a thing of beauty and sits wonderfully over the musical assault that takes inspiration from Black, Thrash and Death Metal to create a concoction that is as brutal as it is devastating. From blistering blast beats, to soaring lead guitar riffs, this has everything you’d expect from an extreme metal act.
These themes continue throughout the album. Alongside intelligent variations in texture and pacing. You truly appreciate the full skull crushing of the heavier passages after a much slower and deliberate build up to that crescendo, which Black Lava do very well. In many ways, this is an album to be appreciated in its entire glory! In other ways, it’s difficult to isolate any song (aside from ‘Colour Of Death’) as one that really stands out. Which is an issue as it appears that sometimes ideas are recycled too frequently and there’s insufficient compositional variation to make this album stand out as a truly phenomenal record, as compared to the heavy weights of the genre. Which is a shame, as I genuinely feel like Black Lava have all the ingredients there in the band to go head to head with the big players in the game.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Colour of Death
02. Dark Legacy
03. Wrapped in Filth
04. Unsheathing Nightmares
05. Summoning Shadows
06. Ironclad Sarcophagus
07. Pagan Dust
08. Sanguis Lupus
09. The Savage Winds to Wisdom
LINE-UP:
Dan Preslans – Drums
Ben Boyle – Guitar
Nick Rackham – Bass
Rob Watkins – Vocals
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Oli Gonzalez and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
