By Jason Wellwood
Since the recent news of their signing to Relapse (congrats fellas!!) hit the blogosphere, I thought it might be a good time to dig into the pile of music sitting on my desk that I hadn’t gotten around to listening to from 2010 and give Weapon a spin or seven. After one listen to From The Devil’s Tomb, I wasn’t surprised the band had been signed, though I was amazed it had taken so long! Weapon play very, very intelligent Black metal with a leaning towards death and a serious progressive bent to it. Not progressive in the sense that it sounds like a heavy, growly, Jethro Tull, but progressive in a sense that the band knows how to play and aren’t about to stay confined to anyone’s idea of what their music should be.
The album kicks off with a slow build, full of buzzing guitar that leads into a full assault of your aural cavities. ‘From The Devil’s Tomb’ is unrelenting but the eastern influences in the riffs are crystal clear and sound incredible over the back drop of destruction. ‘LEFTHANDPATHYOGA’ starts with some clean acoustic guitar, but that quickly yields to heavier, dirtier, electric though the tone and feel of the track is much mellower than the preceding songs and gives a welcome respite to the attack. Overall, Weapon keep thing interesting with a varying light and dark feel, tempo changes and amazing instrumentation. Again, there is a feeling that the band are pushing for more in their music and it comes across very well, something that would have been lost in traditional black metal production, for sure.
In terms of production, there are some ‘low-fi’ elements kept in for the KVLT folks who believe all black metal should sound like it was recorded while hiding under a blanket so mom and dad won’t hear. For the most part though the quality is crisp and allows the instrumentation to be heard clearly while songs explode from your speakers. I’d recommend headphones for this one though kids, it’s worth it!
On From The Devil’s Tomb, Weapon manage to weave a thread of incredible beauty through what should be truly ugly music. It’s not an easy task but they make it sound effortless and create some memorable and oddly catchy music in the process.
(Ajna Offensive)
