ALBUM REVIEW: Possessor - "The Ripper"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 24/11/2017

Label: Wicked Lester Records |

Graven Earth Records

"The Ripper" is one of the most pleasing releases to wrap 2017 and open up 2018. Possessor's massive sound and brutal composition make it one of the more intimidating listens on the scene, and one you should get to know now, if you aren't already down.

“The Ripper”CD//CS//DD track listing

1. Conjure and Possess

2. Guillotine

3. Wet Cemetery

4. The Slime        

5. Whitechapel Murders

6. Lava 

7. Notting Hell

8. Hacksaw

9. Earth Shaker

The Review:

London's thrash marauders Possessor have been at this for awhile, and get fans excited by its mutated form of garage, hardcore, thrash and even a splash of doom from moment to moment. The three-piece managed to carve its own lane in English metal through efforts like its 2016 album "Dead By Dawn," 2015's "Stay Dead" EP and many more. To its credit, Possessor has garnered, through this time, much critical acclaim for its distorted sludge and classic-metal influenced roar.

A band this busy – Possessor has offered nine records since 2014 – always raises eyebrows. Is there potential for burnout, or whiling through all one's creative juices? "The Ripper," an ambitious nine-song album with miles of fire to it, generates a number of these questions, undoubtedly.

So where is a band that gets high regard and seems to have a lot more in the tank to do when music itself is evolving constantly? In the case of Possessor, which melds enough traditional metal to offer a timelessness to its sound, there is an inherent advantage here, since it is not wedded to trends. "The Ripper"starts with "Conjure and Possess," a double-down of guitars and monster riffs that make it clear that Possessor is taking no prisoners. Again, there's an approach that seems to defy our almost innate desire for something wholly new. We're in a moment of so many metal consolidations – black metal with everything, hardcore and more subgenres are blended all the time – that fans almost start to expect it. Bands like Mastiff and Possessor seem to instead revel in straight-ahead metal. There are a list of gifted influences you hear on the opener and its followup, "Guillotine," including Pantera, Megdeth and Exodus among them. A few critical ears might feel this could be considered derivative or even a bit too 1990s. "Wet Cemetery" delivers a bit of grunge-style punk that still stands out for its heaviness. However, Possessor does something that is much harder to pull off than it seems. Songs like "Whitechapel Murders" and "Earth Shaker" come across as inspired by influences, rather than mimicking those acts. Herein Possessor make a far greater return than maybe even at first glance.

If you enjoyed the band's earlier work, like its driving and ferocious album, "Electric Hell," there's a lot on "The Ripper" to please you. The music thrashes hard while being enjoyable for new fans. Cuts like "Hacksaw" are some of Possessor's better songs.  "The Ripper" is one of the most pleasing releases to wrap 2017 and open up 2018. Possessor's massive sound and brutal composition make it one of the more intimidating listens on the scene, and one you should get to know now, if you aren't already down.

"The Ripper" is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook