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Considering
this recording comes with the Stonerrock.com logo I was
expecting something much less corrosive. Yeah, I see the
sonic link between the art of this ugly doom beast and
that of say, any other pot smoker with a guitar and a
Kyuss record. But Seattle’s Slave Traitor have a very
violent and ugly side that falls closer to classic heavy
metal. Certainly, the dynamics here are those of a
no-oil machine. As a matter of fact, Slave Traitor sound
rusty as shit, like a bunch of friends content with Hellhammer-level technique.
Which is not
to say that this is bad. Far from it, Black Narcissus rocks
properly, with constant mid tempos that are as blunt as a kick
in the head or a stab in the eye and a relentless spirit that
trudges on despite any resistance you might hold. Here, the
riffs are mean and giant. The vocals are vicious legible mad
grunts. The drums are a stoic beat.
The pace of Black Narcissus
is sure. The songs sound like battle hymns in a very un-Manowar-way.
Take opening track “Watching the Sky”, the riffage is heavy
metal 101 and the lyrics are the genre in all its glory, check
this out; ‘over the hills, over the seas, bring them to me, how
did they smell, were they not scared, tell it to me, did they
not beg, and get on their knees, grovel for me…’. Now, that’s
awesome.
The
roughness and crudity of Slave Traitor’s sound reminds me of the
sadly overlooked From Empire to Ashes EP by Iowa’s The Horde.
Except The Horde include a far wider range of dynamics within
their metal. Hell, Slave Traitor don’t even play guitar solos.
So the similarities may just have to do with the rawness of
sound. I dig that rustic quality, that back to basics approach.
It’s something that perfectly matches this band’s lack of
pretension and total blunt metal.
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