Artist: Perdition winds
Country: Finland
Label: Hellthrasher Productions
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2023
‘Transcendent Emptiness’, the second record by the Finnish Black Metal band Perdition Winds, was a ripper of a record. But maybe that wasn’t all that surprising, as the band features members of seasoned acts such as Lie in Ruins, Desolate Shrine, Sargeist, Corpsessed and Grave Violator. Perhaps it was the more Death Metal oriented roots of some of the members that provided the music with a fresh angle. Regardless, their approach to Black Metal that bears the typical Finnish power yet wears their Heavy metal origins proudly on its sleeves managed to strike the right chord. Needless to say, exciting times are here now that the follow-up record ‘Burning Spiritual Crypts’ is upon us.
What Perdition Winds did well on their previous record was to combine a variety of influences from Finnish Black Metal that ranged from Behexen to Sargeist with some trips to the more classic Norwegian style of for instance Immortal and blend it in with Heavy Metal melodies, groove and leads. While that description applied to the previous album, it also fits perfectly with a track like ‘Forever in His Name’ on the latest record. A sharp but heavy guitar sound, plodding bass and furious drums together with vocals that vary from sharp shrieks to growls and grunts, the song is but one of the examples of a dynamic sound that alternates between raging to slightly more midpaced atmospheric sections. ‘Venomous Shroud’ is another outstanding track, with great subcutaneous sweeping melodies soaked in melancholy draped upon furious blasts, a grooving midsection and a particularly spirited vocal performance. Closing track ‘Threshold, Eye of Algol’ takes a slightly different angle as an altogether more minimal and repetitive track that lingers predominantly at a threatening midpace, features haunting background female vocals and contains some of the most intense and lengthy shrieks on the record. It closes off another excellent album that is bound to appeal to fans of Behexen and the typical Finnish sense of catchy Heavy Metal based Black Metal melodies.
