Spectral Wound – Songs Of Blood And Mire

Written by on 04-01-2025 at 13:36.

At the beginning of 2022 I was soaking in the previous album Diabolical Thirst by this Canadian band and now Spectral Wound are back with a hymn book full of tracks about blood and mire. Previously I wrote that the black metal of this band appealed to me, partly because the sound seemed to be heavily influenced by Finnish styles. Guitarist Patrick McDowall did all the producer’s chores in his own Black Gate studio, but left the mastering to James Plotkin.

I can’t immediately pinpoint a central theme on this album. It’s simply about all the nastiness happening on our planet right now, and of course, you can think of plenty of examples yourself, I don’t need to do that. If you feel like an outcast, someone unjustly pushed aside… then this might be the album to help you fight back and give those idiots a taste of their own medicine.

Seven nasty and grim black metal tracks are waiting for us, with the first one bearing the wonderfully sticky, scorched title Fevers And Suffering. You can safely say that the stench of decay hits you with the first guitar strike or the first smack of the snare drum. Where I previously referred to obscure Finnish works, you can rest assured that this approach was not abandoned. Good Lord, what a magnificent opening riff! At Wine-Dark Midnight In Mouldering Halls is instantly bombarded as one of the strongest tracks on this exceptionally strong album. Fantastic in this song is the middle section with acoustic guitars, stirring drums, and screams that are beautifully grotesque—who comes up with all this?

A filthy bass gurgles nicely beneath the already greasy Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal. The razor-sharp screams then slice through, merging with the background plucking in The Horn Marauding, opening the earth so our friend satan can come straight from the underworld to push everyone up their backside.

Spectral Wound has once again introduced us to their ultra-grimy, venomous black metal variant with this Songs Of Blood And Mire. You’d do well to throw this nasty piece into your player at the right times because it really does sound quite nasty. I’d go after a physical copy of this release because before you know it, it will sell out.

Score:

90/100

Label:

Profound Lore Records, 2024

Tracklisting:

  1. Fevers And Suffering
  2. At Wine-Dark Midnight In Mouldering Halls
  3. Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal
  4. The Horn Marauding
  5. Less And Less Human, O Savage Spirit
  6. A Coin Upon The Tongue
  7. Twelve Moons In Hell

Line-up:

  • Illusory – Drums
  • Patrick – Guitars
  • Jonah – Vocals
  • A.A. – Guitars
  • Sam – Bass

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