Artist: Hellripper
Release: Coagulating Darkness
Genre: Black/Speed
After releasing an EP, compilation and a series of splits since its formation in 2014, this one man band from Scotland released its first full-length in April. All of Hellripper’s music and lyrics are written by the ambitious James McBain, who also started the one man death metal project, Lord Rot, back in 2015. Besides having written all the music McBain was also responsible for the recording of all the instruments and vocals, other than various guest appearances mainly as additional vocals.
Coagulating Darkness is everything black/speed needs to be in my opinion; fast and filthy, without taking itself too seriously. The style was popularized by Midnight in the early 2000’s and blends the fast energy of speed metal with rawer black metal elements. Hellripper takes the concept of black/speed and drips an extra layer of black metal filth over it. The result? Fast, distorted, Motörhead inspired riffs, accompanied by raw, high-pitched growls. When listening to Coagulating Darkness I was immediatly reminded of Bewitcher, who released their self-titled debut in late 2016. This album never slows down and doesn’t give you a moment of calmness, resulting in 26 minutes of uninterrupted mayhem, perfect for caffeine fueled, late night study sessions, when you just need that extra kick in the balls.
And the song writing isn’t where this album stops shining, the production is also superb. The guitars are coated with heavy distortion and supported by the thundering sound of the double bass, but not to the extent where the actual riffs get drowned out by white noise. The vocals are higher-pitched than the average death growl and manage to penetrate the cacophony of riffs and blast beats brilliantly.
Finally, one of my favourite aspects of this album is the guest appearance of guitarist Mark Lerche, who provided the solos for the songs Anneliese and Demdike (in League with the Devil). These long and fast solos match beautifully with the rest of the music and thanks to the stellar production rise above the rest of the music as the pinnacle of mayhem and chaos. This favourite aspect is also somewhat of a dissapointment, as Mark only appears on 2 of the 8 tracks, while I would have loved to hear more of him. The other solos on Coagulating Darkness don’t nearly jump out as much and pale in comparison to the expertise of Lerche.
I definitely have a weakness for dirty black/speed like this, so it didn’t really come has a surprise when this turned out to be one of my favourite releases of 2017 thus far. Hellripper finally scratched the itch I’ve had after listening Bewitcher’s 2016 release to death. A combination of stellar songwriting and great production result in a little over 25 minutes of complete and total fucking mayhem.
90%
Blood Kvlt 