The second album by California-based blackened death metal band
Lightning Swords of Death
lives up to the group's awesome name. They're definitely not a
Mayhem
tribute act; the most stereotypically black metal element of their music is the treble-heavy guitar sound. The riffs on display owe a lot to old-school thrash, and vocalist
Autarch
delivers the lyrics in a guttural, death metal style, as drummer
Mike Vega
pounds out avalanche-like rhythms, heavy on the double bass. The group fits (un)comfortably next to somewhat "post-black metal" acts like
Tombs
and
Black Anvil
, groups that see a future in synthesizing the best aspects of multiple metal subgenres into one roaring assault. There are lots of great moments on
The Extra Dimensional Wound
, mostly coming from the drummer, but
's extended croaking roar at the end of
"Invoke the Desolate One"
will linger in a listener's mind for a while. And though the group focuses on head-down blasting, even to the point of omitting guitar solos, there are some melancholy touches here and there, like the two-minute atmospheric guitar interlude
"Zwartgallig."
The album's final track, the nearly 12-minute
"Paths to Chaos,"
is very impressive, switching back and forth between punishing black/death metal and creepy hissing-and-rumbling interludes that recall the
Eraserhead
soundtrack. ~ Phil Freeman