Reaper "Unholy Nordic Noise" CD

Like a blast from Bathorian dungeons, REAPER burst forth from muck of time eternal with their debut demo, Ravenous Storm of Piss, in early 2019 via IRON BONEHEAD. Ever aptly titled, this three-song firestorm whipped forth a fury of ancient witching metal, attacking with spell. Now, the return of darkness and evil comes with their fucking-PERFECTLY-titled debut album, Unholy Nordic Noise.
Reprising those same three demo tracks but in re-recorded form, Unholy Nordic Noise is ten-song assault of sulfurous, punkish First-Wave Black Metal Exclusively bookended by seamless intro and outro. In just a mere 29 minutes, the unholy duo of REAPER rip asunder the present and recast the past in crude 'n' rude form. Thick and viscous is their thrust, the latent D-beat discharging possibilities of life's destruction, while the orkish vokills spill gism all over one's sanity and safety. It's a simple attack, but far from simplistic: this kind of delirious devilry requires the nuance and nous of a true aesthete. Thus, Unholy Nordic Noise is everything it promises...and far more!
But find out for yourself as you peer into those dungeons, pondering whether to cross the threshold into REAPER's domain. Unholy Nordic Noise will drive you mad!

Swedish blackened speed metallers Reaper are here with their debut album.
Introducing the record with ambient and beautiful clean guitars, there is a really old school feeling to the music which is built up from this simple atmospheric touch. The spoken samples are a really wicked touch that add an uncomfortable vibe to the intro. Speeding guitars and pounding drums drop us into an inferno of instrumental onslaughts with snarling vocals, the production is raw yet crisp and offers that static black-speed assault that is reminiscent of Bonehunter. The sadistic slaughter continues with anthemic riffs and monstrous blastbeats that add walls of intensity to the hideously harsh vocals with the blistering lead work taking things up a notch. This morbid monstrosity is utterly fantastic from very early on with a rivetingly gripping attack of ferocious musicianship that gives no choice but to devote your whole attention to the speedy slew of blackened mastery.
There is an icy and piercing nuance within the guitars the often can be found from Scandinavian bands but the warmth of the bass thaws it out into this package of digestible yet ludicrously violent ripping extreme metal. Songs like “Order Of The Beelzebub” give some tasty Motörhead vibes that only further how damn metal this record is. The tracks all work closely together to look at the bigger picture (the full album), which never loses momentum and only seems to up the ante in terms of sleaze, destruction and savagery. If you mixed Gorgoroth with early Razor, that is a rough indication of the mentally deranged direction of these Swedish barbarians, a unique yet familiarly menacing approach to totally insane and yet rather catchy music, total headbanging fuel. With plenty of variety and a clear Smörgåsbord of influences, while tying the tracks together in a cohesive manner, I cannot flaw how impeccably this is done.
This is a ridiculously brilliant debut album and offers some of the more interesting blackened-thrash attacks that will demand your respect and take you to a place of utter chaos from start to end with a precise aggression that I found superbly memorable. The outro bows out with grace but seems to say “we are coming back” or at least to my ear and I sincerely hope that I am correct. “Unholy Nordic Noise” is possibly the best self-diagnosis a band has given their sound, this thing is killer and will take no prisoners, preferring to offer devastation and drop the listener into oblivion.

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