Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal, punk, and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, the top spot goes to Full of Hell’s “Knight’s Oath.”
No, Full of Hell aren’t releasing their dungeon synth album, although their new EP — Broken Sword, Rotten Shield — certainly has the look of one with its cartoonish medieval cover and nomenclature. Rather, it’s reminiscent of what Poison Ruin did a couple years ago, essentially refracting universal themes through a fantasy lens while retaining the band’s core sound.
As for the meaning behind the EP’s first single “Knight’s Oath,” frontman Dylan Walker reflected: “Absolute dedication to your charge, be it a person you love or held tenet, and the ignominy that comes with a sudden defeat.” The knight-errant Don Quixote metaphor is certainly befitting to such a premise, and Full of Hell couple that with one of their most tangibly heavy metal compositions to date. The track verges on black n’ roll with its breakneck pace and driving rhythms, and the raw instrumentation suits the band well, eschewing FoH’s more experimental/industrial studio tendencies for something more akin to their live sound.
Honorable Mentions:
Alice Cooper – “Black Mamba” feat. The Doors’ Robby Krieger
The original Alice Cooper band is back with their first new album in 51 years, and according to producer Bob Ezrin — who also helmed the band’s classic albums in the 1970s — the group essentially picked up where it left off, as if no time had passed. Upon hearing “Black Mamba,” we believe it. With its gritty blues-rock riffs and psychedelic haze, the track sounds like a leftover from an early Cooper band LP like Easy Action, which dabbled in acid rock and heavy psych prior to Alice’s shock-rock makeover.
Cancer – “Enter the Gates”
Death metal vets Cancer are back with their first new album in seven years, Inverted World, which is out now via Peaceville Records. Opener “Enter the Gates” is an excellent primer for the 40-plus minute LP, as the band find a nice balance between OSDM murk and grinding technicality. There’s some complex riff-work here, but not in a showy or exaggerated way. Atmosphere comes first, as it should with this kind of death metal.
Halestorm – “Darkness Always Wins”
Halestorm tap into an ’80s aesthetic on “Darkness Always Wins,” the first single from the band’s as-yet-untitled new album, set for release later this year. There’s a throwback FM power-ballad vibe here, with a major emphasis on Lzzy Hale’s soaring vocals and even some lyrical nods to the aforementioned era — “running with the shadows” (Pat Benatar) and “fading into black” (Metallica) — as we pointed out in our original write-up for the song. Things get a bit heavier around the halfway point when Joe Hottinger’s guitar kicks in and Hale unleashes an impressive scream, adding a dynamic peak to the arrangement.
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