January 21, 2013

Hammerdrone - A Demon Rising (2012)


I'm such a piece of shit. Hammerdrone's vocalist Graham sent us his band's debut EP more than a month ago and even though I've enjoyed it immensely, I've put off writing about it for no reason at all. Today I will right this wrong.

Hammerdrone hail from the frozen wasteland of Canada and, if you've been following our site for any amount of time, you already know that I consider Canada to be sort of a breeding ground of insanely good metal bands. The four lads of Hammerdrone make no exception to the rule and have birthed upon the world four tracks of high quality melodic death metal. Now, I don't know much about melodic death metal, so the closest band I can compare them to is Amon Amarth. I realize that is probably a shitty comparison, so let me apologize for that. Sorry, guys. I'm caught in the act. I know nothing of melodic death metal.

Still, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate Hammerdrone's barage of rhythmic chugging riffs, rock'n'roll/blastbeat drumming and gruff growling vocals. They work seamlessly together to create a feeling of musical storytelling and the occasional guitar solos shape the music's atmosphere into something heroic and awe-inspiring. I can definitely see their songs as the soundtrack to an epic battle scene between weather-hardened Norse warriors and reptilian overlords taking place on a devastated battleground, with the sound of war-cries filling the sky. The struggle is brutal, blood is being shed left and right, but in the end, our heroes emerge victorious.

Which I hope will also happen to the guys in Hammerdrone. A Demon Rising is a strong starting point for a band with a lot of potential. My only gripe would be the unprofessional-looking artwork and band logo, but this is just nitpicking and is easy to be addressed. Just drop me a line, guys, I can take some photos of mountains and foggy woods for you to use as the cover for your next material. Cheers!

http://hammerdrone.bandcamp.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment