01.Still Reborn
02.Redemption Through Blood
03.Eventide
04.Seven Stars Unseen
05.G.N.O.N.
06.Until The End
07.My Hate Is Pure
08.N
09.Next Level Black
10.Under The Rose
Paul Delaney (Bass/Vocals)
Raeph Glicken (Drums)
Gary Bennett (Guitar)
Sos (Guitar)
Guest vocals on 'My Hate Is Pure' By Big John.
Black Anvil are an American black metal band from New York City, formed in 2007 with Paul Delaney, Gary Bennett and Raeph Glicken.
Taking their name from Black Babbath and Judas Priests 'Between The Hammer & The Anvil' from Painkiller.
They soon became rising stars of the New York Black Metal scene and went on to release two well recieved albums.
Last year they were joined by Sos on Guitar and toured with Watain before returning to the studio.
In the words of Paul, "This is a darker, deeper record than our previous releases and a natural progression down the chosen path. Musically, and lyrically… we will take our form to the next level".
Opening with the 9 minute epic 'Still Reborn', the spanish acoustic guitar intro fades out allowing the metal to flow through and i do mean flow, it has a superb rhythm to it, as the song progresses the drums become ever more furious, the deathly growl of Delaneys vocals remind me of Satyricons style.
In places there is an almost rock n roll feel to the way the instruments work together.
Have to say the lyrics are well written as well, not your usual Black Metal hail satan stuff.
'Redemption Through Blood' keeps the pace, the vocals are balanced with a clean backing vocal, song gets quite doomy in places when it slows down.
After 'Eventide' we get another longer song called 'Seven Stars Unseen' kind of reminds me of a blackened version of Megadeths 'In My Darkest Hour', its slow tempo thrash chords blend with the Black Metal vibe to create another great song.
'G.N.O.N' also has an old school thrash metal feel, not sure what it stands for mind you but the lyric is again very well written and even thought provoking - "When the fence corrodes, Which fate will you decide, Graveyards now are temples, To those who wish to die".
Very melodic guitar opening for 'Until The End' then some awesome phased guitar kicks in, the pace is slow almost anthemic with some lovely backing harmonys, very gothic in feel and even a sitar type sound created on the guitar.A stand out track!
'My Hate Is Pure' features a guest vocal from Big John from "Fantom Warior", its an agressive full on attack on the senses, but with sensitive backing vocals.
The mix of the song is very good especially when the drums and guitar are brought forward on their own.
The simply titled 'N' is an atmospheric mid tempo piece, full of multi tracked vocal and doom driven powercords.
The last song, Next Level Black', is another huge epic at 11 minutes, very doomy and dare i say Psychedelic to star with some some spaced out vocals mixing into the death growls, the song seems to bounce along at quite a pace, around 8 minutes in comes this quiter bit with some nice chorus guitarwork, then moves into a thrash element and more great guitar playing.
There is one more song added as a bonus track which is a cover of the Kiss song 'Under The Rose' originally on their concept album 'Music From The Elder'.
Its a solid version and delivered with a clean vocal which was a nice surprise.
Rating 9/10
For Fans Of : Satyricon, Waitain, Darkthrone, Cathedral, Akercocke
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