### Ravencult: Morbid blood

#### 22/11/11 || gk

Greece’s Ravencult started life in 2001 and finally got round to releasing their debut album in 2007. This year sees the band release their second album with “Morbid Blood.” The band play a furious brand of black thrash that owes a debt not only to Desaster and Bewitched but also Motörhead and Venom.

Right from the opening second of “Sacrilege of Death” it’s clear that Ravencult are a relentless beast. The song is some amped up and supremely aggressive black metal with hints of thrash and a feel of Venom being turned inside out and stomped upon. “Possessed on Burial Ground” continues the assault and it’s only half way through the third song and one of the album’s highlights “Hail Revenge,” that the band slow down and start to play around with tempos. Title song “Morbid Blood” has a punk feel to the opening riff and goes on to alternate with more traditional black metal riffs to great effect. “Winds of Damnation” reminds me of the French black metal scene with its use of dissonance while “With Hunger in Eyes” is almost a collision of d-beat and black metal and is another album highlight.

Ravencult has managed to meld together a number of the different black metal styles from the tradition of old Darkthrone, a little bit of Marduk’s furious pace, the thrash influence of Germany’s Desaster, the d-beat meets black metal attack of bands like Dishammer and the groove of Motörhead and Venom into one well thought out and superbly executed whole. “Morbid Blood” isn’t just about blasting away and the band knows exactly when to slow things down and let the riff breathe. The songs also somehow manage to be catchy while always staying supremely heavy and black.

Ravencult has done a damn good job here. Sure there’s nothing new, the ideas are old hat but the execution of these songs is what makes this album so good. If these songs don’t get you to bang your head and say a few “Hail Satan’s” then I don’t know what will. “Morbid Blood” is an album worth listening to. It really doesn’t matter what sub genre you like because at its core, this is heavy fucking metal the way it should be.

- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Hells Headbangers
- Website: Ravencult MySpace
- Band
- L: vocals
- S: guitars
- S: bass
- J. Maelstorm: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Sacrilege of Death
- 02. Possessed on Burial Ground
- 03. Hail Revenge
- 04. Morbid Blood
- 05. Winds of Damnation
- 06. With Hunger in Eyes
- 07. Snakes Crawls
- 08. Black Rites of Execration
- 09. Sworn to the Unspoken Oath
- 10. The Gates of Bloodshed