### Northern Plague: Blizzard of the north

#### 14/09/11 || Smalley

It’s funny; I only chose to review this debut EP because I thought the band name was decent (certainly much better than Blastanus at least), but it turns out that minor improvement is actually reflected in the music here. You see, Poland’s Northern Plague plays a catchy, compelling mixture of a bunch of different subgenres; I hear black/death in their singer’s uniquely guttural-but-also-raspy growling, the slower moments have a catchy groove to ‘em, the faster moments sound thrashy, the soloing sounds kinda melo-deathy at times, etc., but NP manages to not come off as a band simply ripping off successful genres for their sound, but rather, their own, well-formed style.

Both the lead & the lead guitarists are hella talented, too. Sure, the production’s kind of rough here, and their vocalist’s name tries to rip off that Darkthrone guy, but “Blizzard of the north” is still quite worthwhile. Can’t wait to hear a full-length!

7.5/10: Listen, right now. Only 5 tracks too!