Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Black Royal - The Summoning Pt.2 (2016)

While I don't remember the first part of The Summoning from these Finnish /stoner/death metallers, this second one definitely caught my attention. Musically, we're getting a doom approach with some extra bells and whistles (especially in the vein of melody) that help to accentuate what can be some rather rough growls from the frontman. Maybe there's a little bit of thrash to be found in sections as well, it just depends on the track. We even get some rather ethereal keyboard sections on “Reclaim The Throne” which starts out as a downright pounder. The track pounds you into the ground as if lifts you up and carries you into an enchanted forest. Go figure.

The rest of the cuts after that one are quite heavy, more along the lines of what you were expecting and they all feature a great deal of heavy bass and harsh vocals coupled with some bluesy guitar solos. I don't feel that anything goes as out of bounds as the ending of “Reclaim The Throne” even though “Demonspawn” does have a few more light-hearted moments, particularly when the keyboards return just slightly to give it an unexpectedly angelic feeling right before one last pounding.

Black Royal proves that they've got something a bit more to offer the stoner/death scene, even if that's the mere addition of melodies and keyboard bits. In any case, it's worth checking out if you're looking for a slightly different flavor than many similar bands in the genre.

(6 Tracks, 25:00)

6/10

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