So we are back in the shire once more, no not Pembrokeshire. Although my want to visit this area has seriously been upped by the last two releases I have just dropped. Also, no were not in that other famous shire where little hairy folk live in idyllic underground homes and are good friends with a grey old wizard. We are in Derbyshire of all places. Definitely not the usual landscape you’d associate with this grim level of music, but in this little Eastern part of the North not far from my old stomping ground do we come across a band called Flesh of Tituba and his eagerly new release ‘Black Angel’.
This one man act takes the name from Tituba an Caribbean lady who was alleged to have made a pact with the Devil and accused her of the practice of witchcraft that ended up with her being at the centre of the Salem witch trials. Something not so connected with the town in which this act Hails from, however a great name for a black metal band. Formed in the year of MMXXI this act has at least with 5 singles, 2 splits, 2 E.Ps and one full length what is it that we can expect of this new single and this one man project fronted by Acwulf.
The release in question sets out with a stunning little synth opening and you can almost feel yourself drifting into an opening for a good hard house track, soon enough the synth fades and the guitars glide in effortlessly and we are treated to a hellish and ferocious attack.
The vocals follow suit, venomous and filled with high shrieks and aggression. This is brutal from here on in. Slower segments fill moments but the hell battery of the drums and guitars come straight back in offering little if no reprieve within the first two verses.
The midsection takes on a slower and grinding like doom presence before you are thrown back into the infernal storm of the closing verses of the track. The overdrive on the guitar is heavily used gives you that little hark back to the early nighties second wave black metal sound. However production isn’t compromised at all. All instruments are audible and hold their own throughout the track.
The vocals are a little high in the mix in comparison to previous tracks I’ve heard, however this is not off-putting, nor is it a problem. At least they are audible, which for most bands that try to recreate this level of similar atmosphere and sound from back in the day tend to gloss over and lose themselves within the nostalgia and the stylization.
So it goes without saying that Flesh of Tituba are definitely more about substance over style. On this single track I love the little punk and thrash elements they are that little bit of classic filler on an already thick filled release that incorporates all the elements of a great British black metal track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIdyUumAcH8
Hails #Foras #LordOfTheShadows.
Leave a Reply