Lecherous Nocturne
Adoration of the Blade
7.6
What’s On Tap: Punishing, fast, razor-sharp, old school U.S. death metal with a nice twist of grind...
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” - an old adage I’m sure we’ve all heard a million times before, and one I still find myself ignoring like a complete bastard. Case in point - Lecherous Nocturne’s Adoration of the Blade. Based on the band name, album title, and cover artwork, I was sure I was about to step into a melee of grizzled, lo-fi black metal with howling, murderous vocals, alas I was wrong once again. Instead, these Greenville, South Carolinians offer up one hell of a solid (albeit short) death metal debut full-length. Adoration of the Blade is equal parts Immolation, early 90s era Gorguts (minus the soloing), topped off with a smidge of Terrorizer/Napalm grind. Pantaloon-pup-tents popped and eyes directly on the chalkboard? Excellent, because there are two other tiny tidbits of information that might be of interest to some; Lecherous Nocturne also features Dallas Toler-Wade of Nile fame behind the drum kit, and Monstrosity’s Mike Poggione on bass. On to the goods at hand…
Folks, this record (unlike its reviewer) does not fuck around. Period. In the scant 24-minutes that is Adoration of the Blade, you will not find a single ‘mood-enhancing’ sample, no lilting acoustical interludes, and nary a single solo to break up the never-ending barrage of mangling riffs (shitloads of riffs), pummeling drums, and monstrously malign vocals. The pace of the record is manic and quite violent, but nearly every short song (five of the eight songs clock in under three-minutes) throws down a nice little break to give listeners a chance to catch their breath. And for those death metal drum snoots that might be wondering how Dallas fares behind the kit as compared to his regular guitaring gig with Nile, his performance is incredibly surprising and he does a hell of a job pushing the frenzied pace of this record from the moment it starts, to the moment it quickly ends. I’d also like to point out just how much I enjoy the vocal styling of Jason Hohenstein as well (where the fuck did this guy come from?). This dude annihilates his vocal chords through each of the eight songs as if he didn’t give a shit about ever speaking again.
Honestly, there’s not much bad I can say about Adoration of the Blade, apart from the fact I wish there were a few more songs to lengthen it. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the band throw in some sweet Gorgut-ian soloing on future endeavors, but I’m a sucker for that kinda shit.
I’ve also read these guys put on a hell of an energetic live show. If this record is any indication of what might occur on stage, I definitely hope I get a chance to check them out. The incredibly reasonable price tag of $12 from Deepsend Records makes Adoration of the Blade another death metal no-brainer; buy the fucking record.
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