Exclusive Track Premiere: Lava Invocator – “Dark Thunder Sky”
BREAKING NEWS: Reports are flooding in from all over Ukraine of horrible natural disasters. Earthquakes, inky clouds of acrid smoke and choking ash blotting out the sun, and even rampant wildfires. Details are scarce, but experts now believe that Mörk, the debut album of black metal firebrands Lava Invocator is to blame and… What’s that? Ladies and gentlemen, can you see this? There appears to be a literal RIFF VOLCANO erupting in the middle of the country. We’re going live to the scene now to give you exclusive coverage of the “Dark Thunder Sky.”
Rising from the ashes of Def/Light like some perverse, obsidian phoenix, Ukraine’s Lava Invocator are set to bring the heat. These names may be new to you, but when you press play on the track below, the style will be instantly familiar. Picture if you will a towering black metal volcano spewing forth molten riff after molten riff while Immortal-esque drums and savage vocals batter the landscape like seismic shifts after a major tectonic upheaval. Toss in Drudkh-esque melodies crackling through the corrosive atmosphere like flashes of forked lightning, and you’ve got one hell of a natural disaster and a pretty apt description of our exclusive track “Dark Thunder Sky.”
Perhaps what impresses me most about this song (and the rest of the album, to be honest), is just how distinct and focused it is. While songs like “Dark Thunder Sky” and “Totenkampf” (which you can hear here) certainly offer a whole lot of destruction, what truly makes Mörk as captivating as the reckless thrashing of Mother Earth is the maturity and depth on offer. “Dark Thunder Sky” is loaded with sulfuric riffs, but it also draws heavily from death-n-roll acts like Entombed and melodic death metal statesmen like Amon Amarth to capture a sense of inertia; those molten riff floes are driven by a galloping bass line (prominent throughout all seven tracks) that moves the whole violent expulsion forward. The band even adds slight symphonic hints, juxtaposed against some killer leads, to ensure that nothing is left unburnt. Rarely will you hear prominent solos and gratuitous rhythmic action in black metal, but all of the parts combust and melt together into one undeniable stream of molten fury. Escape is impossible.
Mörk drops on March 27th via Satanath Records. You can pre-order it here. While you’re getting burnt to a crisp, be sure to swing by Facebook to spew some ash the band’s way.
