Hooded Menace

Effigies of Evil

Written by: MST on 07/03/2013 18:09:59

It's about time I get 2012 finished off for good. Starting in Finland, Hooded Menace have been going places since their 2008 debut "Fulfill The Curse". Their brand of groovy death/doom attracts fans of both old school death metal, old school doom as well as extreme doom metal fans, but it is in essence a mix of doom metal and old school death metal. "Effigies of Evil" is the band's third opus, and it sees the band take their groovy sound further than ever before.

Album opener "Vortex Macabre" starts out as a slow, heavy and creepy doom track, with riffs and drums sounding like they're crawling their way out of a crypt while being chased by the torso of a corpse pulling itself forward on the floor. Lasse Pyykkö's vocals are extremely guttural, yet they're not entirely indecipherable, and being able to hear the creepy horror film lyrics is a big plus on the record. Then, all of a sudden, the song changes naturally from the slow, creepy doom into a groovy, old school doom song with excellent (for the genre) up-tempo riffs and drums that demand heads moving back and forth. Clocking in at almost 11 minutes, "Vortex Macabre" is a masterpiece of a doom metal song.

Let's not forget about the rest of the album though: "In the Dead We Dwell" follows in the vein of the opening track, with slow and heavy being the motto for the creepy parts that set the general mood, until a more up-beat section brings brilliant guitar riffs to the front of the mix. But not until after we've been treated to the first movie sample, this one being from Twins of Evil from 1971, and naturally, it's about vampires. Then "Curses Scribed in Gore" changes the order of things, with groovy up-tempo verses and a crushingly heavy, yet surprisingly catchy and memorable chorus.

Suffice it to say that if old school death/doom metal with a ton of groovy riffs sounds like your thing, there is plenty of quality stuff to be found on "Effigies of Evil". Although the songs mentioned above are the highlights and the rest of the album isn't quite as memorable, Hooded Menace's third record is a very good record. If only for the masterpiece of an opening track found on the album, all fans of the genre should check this out.

Download: Vortex Macabre, In the Dead We Dwell, Curses Scribed In Gore
For The Fans Of: Coffins, Asphyx, Autopsy
Listen: Facebook

Release date: 11.09.2012
Relapse Records

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