black metal
 |  Support Merchants Of Air Check out our THISISNOTABANDSHIRT collection |
Fast, grinding black metal, loaded with evil intentions and haunting brutality, coming from Canada, which is a bit of a surprise to me. I know Canada has some awesome metal bands but I've rarely heard a non-European band coming this close to the old Scandinavian sound of bands like Darkthrone, Emperor, Marduk and so on. This album is equally bleak and ghastly as many of the nineties classics, both musically and as far as atmosphere is concerned.
Hostium was founded in 2006, released a first demo in 2008 and played a few shows. Then the band became silent until 2013, when they started working on their debut album. Why it took them so long might be a mystery but nevertheless, 'The Bloodwine Of Satan' has become a stunning piece of work, and certainly a decent business card which (hopefully) will gain them a lot of attention in the world of black metal.
As many old school black metal bands, Hostium seems to be influenced by ever older thrash bands, and of course by the previously mentioned icons. There are quite a bit of Venom of Slayer and just as much Mayhem as Satyricon influences here, which make the whole quite interesting and varied. Regular changes in tempo, from blackened doom to piercing blast beats appear and even the vocals are well-varied, even though all of them are sick and haunting.
Opener ' Through Realms Of Oblivion' is definitely one of my favorites, building from what sounds like an intro towards a gutwrenching piece of sonic brutality. It's bleak, eerie and pitch dark. Many awesome songs follow, highlighting in the massive 'Epitaph'. This song drives on continuous blast beats and sheer grimness. It also reminds me a bit of cult icons Unlord, and that is a massive compliment.
Those two songs are the absolute highlights on this album but the others too are definitely worth your attention. 'From Soulless Ruins' could be a classic in the genre, and perhaps it deserves to become a future classic. The entire album deserves that in my opinion. This simply is an astounding piece of vintage satanic black metal which belongs in your collection. So check it out if you're an old school fan.
Serge
Hostium was founded in 2006, released a first demo in 2008 and played a few shows. Then the band became silent until 2013, when they started working on their debut album. Why it took them so long might be a mystery but nevertheless, 'The Bloodwine Of Satan' has become a stunning piece of work, and certainly a decent business card which (hopefully) will gain them a lot of attention in the world of black metal.
As many old school black metal bands, Hostium seems to be influenced by ever older thrash bands, and of course by the previously mentioned icons. There are quite a bit of Venom of Slayer and just as much Mayhem as Satyricon influences here, which make the whole quite interesting and varied. Regular changes in tempo, from blackened doom to piercing blast beats appear and even the vocals are well-varied, even though all of them are sick and haunting.
Opener ' Through Realms Of Oblivion' is definitely one of my favorites, building from what sounds like an intro towards a gutwrenching piece of sonic brutality. It's bleak, eerie and pitch dark. Many awesome songs follow, highlighting in the massive 'Epitaph'. This song drives on continuous blast beats and sheer grimness. It also reminds me a bit of cult icons Unlord, and that is a massive compliment.
Those two songs are the absolute highlights on this album but the others too are definitely worth your attention. 'From Soulless Ruins' could be a classic in the genre, and perhaps it deserves to become a future classic. The entire album deserves that in my opinion. This simply is an astounding piece of vintage satanic black metal which belongs in your collection. So check it out if you're an old school fan.
Serge
