Avenger - Shadows of the Damned (1998)

Not to be confused with the German band that would change their name to Rage in '86 or the NWOBHM group from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England that had two full-lengths in '84 & '85. Spawned fourth in '92, this Avenger hails from Volynì, Czech Republic and was originally the duo of drummer, bassist and vocalist, Honza Kapák and lead guitarist, Petr Rámus Mecák. 'Shadows of the Damned' was originally released in '97 as the bands third demo, but a year later it was re-released by Akhenatan's, Breath of Night Records in CD format.

Avenger plays a sort of slow-paced death metal with black metal undertones, which is quite a bit different from most records out there. Brooding with atmosphere, slow doomy death metal styled riffs that have a catchy sort of groove to them, raspy black metal screams and ghostly solos come together to form this fantastic record.

Speed is hardly a concern on this record as things are almost always mid-paced and even when the drums do blast away the guitars still just chug along at a good pace. The guitar work is clearly the high point of this record as its quite melodic at all times and some of those solos are absolutely spine tingling. Also do to the slow pace it creates a unique mood, that is both dark as well as sort of psychedelic in its overall delivery. The lyrics are wrote entirely in the Czech language, perhaps adding something extra worth of mystery, although English translations are provided in the booklet for the curious. The production is surprisingly clear, warm and organic with even the bass being audible, which sort of makes me curious to know if the original tape sounded like this.

At just a little over thirty three minutes this seven track release is quite pleasing and odd that I randomly found it a few months ago since about a decade ago I owned the bands debut album, 'Fall of Devotion, Wrath and Blasphemy,' which as ever I'm kicking myself for selling.

In the end this is uniquely played, technically impressive and quite the memorable recording, which really has me thinking about hunting down the rest of the bands albums now...