EMBERS & REVELATIONS – RELAPSE RECORDS

Constant whispers – and often straight out roars – about Edmonton band Weapon’s members transgressions are enough to keep the timid at bay. But this is black metal and an album review, so let’s get on with it. On their third full-length, and first for Relapse Records, Weapon does what they do: play hateful, aggressive, extreme black metal.

Embers and Revelations is raw and energetic, utilizing jagged riffs and primordial scratching grunts and blasting drums. Tremolo picking and harmonic bends with eastern music integration provides the basis for a solid blackened death metal album that has gained the band much notoriety. “Vanguard Of The Morning Star” is a true highlight, a furious track with raw thudding drums and fist pumping rhythms. The instrumental “Grotesque Carven Portal” utilizes unnerving, cascading samples that graduate into throbbing soundscapes and squealing guitars which eventually bleed into the feverish title track. Overall, Embers & Revelations isn’t revelatory, instead a consistently strong record with outstanding moments that will certainly propel the band into bigger things.

By Sarah Kitteringham