ALBUM REVIEW: Craven Idol - "The Shackles of Mammon"

By: Conor O’Dea

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 17/04/2017

Label: Dark Descent Records

 

This new album does not disappoint, and capitalizes on a lot of the germinal promise that was present in spades on “Towards Eschaton”: zero bullshit, zero pretence, zero fucks metal.  Vocally it is  truly, truly spectacular and unique. Riffs are dynamic. Bass is deeply discernible and the leads are crazy, fiery and have a tone that reminds that metal solos can be a deadly weapon in the right hands, like a flail made of scalpels and razor blades.

“The Shackles of Mammon” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Pyromancer

2). A Ripping Strike

3). Black Flame Divination

4). The Trudge

5). Dashed to Death

6). Mammon Est

7). Hunger

8). Tottering Cities of Men

The Review:

You know those albums you preorder after one track? Yeah. This is one. I have been waiting for this since Dark Descent unleashed “A Ripping Strike”back in late February, which I liked enough to buy their debut, “Towards Eschaton”, and listened to it repeatedly over the intervening time period. The full album does not disappoint, and capitalizes on a lot of the germinal promise that was present in spades on “Towards Eschaton”: zero bullshit, zero pretence, zero fucks metal. But it also does so in a way that shows a huge step forward in concatenation of identity. The debut was full of exuberant ideas. This album is the brutal execution of the best of those ideas.

Vocals here are truly, truly spectacular and unique. Riffs are dynamic. Bass is deeply discernible everywhere and is given a commanding role on several tracks. Songs vary from barn burners (“A Ripping Strike”) to stalwart marches (“The Trudge”). Leads are crazy, fiery and have a tone that reminds that metal solos can be a deadly weapon in the right hands, like a flail made of scalpels and razor blades.

If you want to call this blackened thrash, go ahead. If you want to make references to Destroyer 666, suit yourself. But the influences here are more varied, and the sources of inspiration much more complex, so you are doing yourself no favours by trying to simplify this densely woven sonic tapestry with lazy comparisons. Listen to it openly, and the music will breathe hellish volumes. Production is excellent. The album is varied, always engaging and cohesive. Worthy of special note is the spectacular album art by Daniel Corcuera, which is a superb transformation of Sascha Schneider’s ‘Mammon und sein Sklave’ (1896). Well worth looking at the original in juxtaposition.

“The Shackles of Mammon” is available here

Band info: facebook