Spectral Wound want you to think they're scary. That's fine, they should — they're a black metal band. Hailing from Montreal, the Jonah Campbell-led group have released four full-lengths of dark, occult-laden black metal that celebrate all that is natural and profane. But look past the cloaks and hoods and knives and skulls and candles and all the grim accoutrements of their visuals and you'll find a band obsessed with having a corpse-painted blast. With hooks and rhythms more akin to a rockin' good time than a ritual sacrifice (even if the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive), Spectral Wound's latest album, Songs of Blood and Mire, is a practically jovial — albeit venomous — affair, rolling along on screams and riffs that will get metalhead asses shaking while they throw up those perennial horns. The cold winds of Norway this most certainly ain't.
Opener "Fevers and Suffering" starts the album off with a crushing, distortion-soaked guitar riff before the rest of the band crashes through the speakers. When Campbell enters with his first piercing scream ("No more these frozen nights!"), we know we're in for a good show. The dual-vocalled climax rides a soaring riff, while track two, "At Wine-Dark Midnight in Mouldering Halls," has a decidedly old school black metal feel to it. But wait! Suddenly, thankfully, the growled sub-vocals and misanthropic lyrics ("Find in me the crowning blow of this age of decline / Corrupted and weak / Decadent, refined") subvert the Emperor worship in favour of something unmistakably Spectral. It's a good thing.
First single "Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal" is a rollicking epic with the most chill-inducing riff the band has ever written. The lyrics find Campbell in the throes of self-induced banishment, submitting to the call of the underworld for what will surely be the best party ever ("We are lost, profligate and wasted / Against laws human and divine / We riot in hell tonight"). Party on, devils, party on. It even features a lyrical throwback to their last album, 2021's A Diabolic Thirst ("Grace by sin adorned / Resplendent in diabolic thirst), a vocal reminder that the sin is still strong with this one. The breakdown is punk as all hell, and the pits will be a-swervin' once the band takes this blasphemous crowning achievement on the road.
The sound of the album itself, recorded and mixed by Patrick McDowall and mastered by James Plotkin, is surprisingly crisp yet never clean. While the band still sounds dangerous and murky, there is an unmistakable brightness that complements the black 'n' roll approach they've taken on this record.
Now don't you fret, Spectral Wound haven't entirely changed their malevolent sound. It's not all mid-paced bangers and dancing, with tracks like "Less and Less Human, O Savage Spirit" and "Twelve Moons in Hell" remaining wholeheartedly black metal, their blistering tempos, uncompromising noise, and Campbell's defiant screams coalescing to create the genre's signature swirling cacophony.
While the riffs and hooks throughout Songs of Blood and Mire are front and centre and can't be undersold (guitarists Patrick and A.A. and bassist Sam are crafting some damn catchy stuff; black 'n' pop anyone?), the drumming, courtesy of Illusory, is the undisputed star of the show. Simultaneously subdued and ridiculously complex, Illusory knows how to terrify and groove, with tasteful, intricate fills and a snare that snaps like the necks of one's enemies (what, you thought there wouldn't be some evisceration? It's a metal record, even it makes you want to bounce).
Songs of Blood and Mire is Spectral Wound's best offering to date, mixing blunt brutality and irreverence with a rhythmic counterpoint that eschews the relentless blast beats of traditional black metal for a (somewhat!) more melodic take. While black 'n' roll isn't a new subgenre (see Midnight, Kvelertak, and even certain albums by scene stalwarts Satyricon and Darkthrone), for Spectral Wound, it's certainly a change from their more traditional black metal roots. "A Coin Upon the Tongue," with its tremendous vocals, groovy pull-off riffs, tremendous leads, driving beat and subterranean bass, is the album's best representation of both worlds, showing that, even after almost a decade as a band, this dog's got some excellent new tricks. Get ready, for tonight, the damned shall dance.