RUNESPELL's highly anticipated debut album, Unhallowed Blood Oath, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Hailing from the shit-hot true Australian black metal scene, RUNESPELL is the work of one Nightwolf, considered by those in the know to be arguably the busiest man in OZBM, maintaining as he does the equally prolific Eternum and Blood Stronghold. While bearing aesthetic similarities to those two bands - this is the purest, most mystical black metal after all - RUNESPELL is a majestic rumination on the mysteries of war and bloodshed, vengeance and valor, memory and destiny. Nightwolf handily accomplished that earlier this year with the debut demo Aeons of Ancient Blood, but now, once again in bloodpact with IRON BONEHEAD, RUNESPELL rises for its grandest strike in Unhallowed Blood Oath.
Maintaining the same exemplary standards in songwriting and execution, here on Unhallowed Blood Oath, the passion and prowess by which Nightwolf guides RUNESPELL have somehow multiplied tenfold. This is black metal deeply steeped in early '90s classicism, be it from Scandinavia or France or particularly Poland - again, no sea change there - but to take source material, especially the sort that's been so widely replicated year after year, and both handily challenge those classics AND resound like an era-relevant relic is no mean feat. In fact, it requires dedication and sacrifice - spiritually, above all, as well as physically - and those are in no short supply across Unhallowed Blood Oath; not for nothing is the album titled that. The seven tracks comprising the record feel strangely far more epic than the compact running-time of 37 minutes suggest, and yet within that mesmerizing maelstrom of alternately grim/gorgeous frequencies lies profound truths, flickering refractions of times distant and as yet lived, of black metal wielded as weapon, totem, and portal simultaneously.
Partake in RUNESPELL's Unhallowed Blood Oath or be banished: there is only one choice.
This is the debut album from Australian one-man black metal band Runespell. Unhallowed Blood Oath is a dark, corrupted paen to 90s second wave black metal. This is so authentic it hurts; the album sounds as if it has come screaming out of some long-forgotten crypt, sealed in the golden days of the second wave era. The music manages to be grim, majestic, and atmospheric, frequently at the same time. The use of bleak melodies is quite sublime, and the songs are crafted in such a way that even though you’ve heard this style a thousand times before, they still manage to sound as fresh as the day they were dug up. In some ways there’s not a lot to say about an album like this. Unhallowed Blood Oath displays such an enjoyable and honest love for the style that it would be foolish to do anything other than lap it up wholeheartedly. The fact that this is a trip down a blackened memory lane that still manages to be relevant and valid in 2017 is no small achievement. For anyone into the classic, pure, orthodox style, this is a no-brainer. Highly recommended.
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