Who holds aloft the torch for heavy metal, I ask? Who lights the fires for righteous, riff-tastic old school heavy metal, when we would dream of furious battle and will our bodies into the fantasy-driven album art, becoming one with the copious hooks? I lift my head from the beaten path made from the bones of false metal idols and let my gaze fall upon the wicked cover for Heavy Metal Wraiths, the sophomore full length from Philadelphia metal merchants Morgul Blade and my body tastes its first morsel of sonic redemption. The hooded knights approach, their blades shining with the light of the almighty riff. The Earth plunges into darkness, while in the distance a bell rings out the clarion call for some of the best blackened traditional metal this side of the world.
This album is great, is what I’m sayin’…
There have been a few bands excelling at taking the anthemic, heroic sound of trad metal and injecting it with some blackened crust – Nite most notably took the hearts of some of us here at 9C when Voices of the Kronian Moon released back in 2022. Morgul Blade evoked a similar reaction in me when their debut Fell Sorcery Abound came out in 2021 – it was just loaded with hooks and did the one thing a band needs to do to succeed in this specific sub-genre: take the entire thing seriously. Tracks like “A Last Waltz of Gevaudan” sounded deadly serious, the guitars spilling fire across a solemn rhythmic cadence that practically reached out and grabbed your head for banging. Since then the band went through a line up change, picking up bassist Jimmy Viola and lead guitarist Sister Midnight. The result is a wicked sonic upgrade and an overall sound that reaches further into the traditional metal route, adding significant heft to the more blackened elements. You can hear the added punch on the opener “Eagle Strike” – the drums are huge, and the harmonized guitars feel like they’re dripping with weight. When the double kick comes in and the non takes off the entire sound expands until with a massive cymbal crash it abruptly ends.
Everything is heavy on Heavy Metal Wraiths: the bass that opens “Beneath the Black Sails” feels like a lead weight dragging across the ground in the best way, and sits really nice in the mix, a credit to Will Mellor who handled the recording, mixing and engineering. Vocalist/guitarist Lord Klauf has that blackened rasp that manages to be filthy and decipherable, and brings a focus to the songs rather than being buried. That rasp doesn’t hold the melody though, letting the role go to the guitars, and it’s refreshing to hear the lead work not simply be a lot of tremolo picking: Sister Midnight and Klauf work a lot of harmonized licks into the song (check out the majesty of the title track with the hammer strikes in the percussion) and when it IS time to rock out, Midnight shows she’s more than capable to rip a solo that seamlessly fits in the structure of the song.
The blackened elements aren’t simply relegated to the raspy vocals: the opening of “Frostwyrm Cavalry” feels ripped out of the second wave before taking on a frigid martial cadence with the snare. I’ve said this in other reviews, but the older I get the more I focus on how important the drumming is to any song, and drummer Will Spectre does a phenomenal job of keeping things grounded while also blasting into the heavens when needed.
The 36-minute runtime ensures everything is crisp and ready for rage, no bloating or fat appears anywhere on Heavy Metal Wraiths. Despite the brevity the band still manages to find moments for experimentation, particularly in the three shorter pieces, the best of which, “A Welcoming Hearth” has some synth arpeggios that almost push the track in 70s Goblin territory. It’s also a great introduction to “Neither Cross Nor Crown” which feels suitably epic for a closing song (barring the very brief outro), a slow gallop accentuated in the chugging guitars and some positively sinful lead work.
Admittedly I’m a sucker for this kind of music, but there is something about a band taking the genre seriously and putting everything they have into the entire package, from the songwriting to the execution to the artwork (again: holy jeez that artwork – credit to artist James Bousema). Morgul Blade have taken an already solid reputation with their first album and raised it to another level with Heavy Metal Wraiths, and I can’t wait to play this on repeat until my wax is ruined or the apocalypse comes. Either way this is a classic of the form and an excellent way to close out a month of great metal.
— Chris
Heavy Metal Wraiths will be available April 26th from No Remorse Records. For more information on Morgul Blade, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.
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