Album Review: Ninth Realm – Damnation’s Veil
Reviewed by Rich Oliver
Thrash is generally seen as one of the most straightforward styles of metal but in reality it is quite a versatile genre – it can be fun, melodic, technical or it can just smash your skull in with pure violence and aggression. Maryland five piece Ninth Realm definitely fall into the latter category and ramp things up with their second album “Damnation’s Veil” which is an exercise in no holds barred thrashing.
Ninth Realm have a vicious concoction where they mix old school thrash, death metal and hardcore together in bludgeoning style in thirty seven minutes of neck wrecking action. “Damnation’s Veil” is an album that rarely pauses for breath with the only slower moments being the intro ‘Valigeth’ and the interlude ‘Orphaned Throne’. The rest of the album is explosive death thrash with songs such as ‘Rituals In Thar’amath’, ‘Vengeance Unto Rot’ and the title track being lessons in violence. A few influences from traditional heavy metal can also be heard throughout the album especially in closer ‘Twilight’s Blade’.
With this album generally being the vicious end of thrash, the vocals from Ben Hageage match that intensity being a vicious bark whilst the guitar team of Charlie House and Liam McMahon unleash crushing riffs and ripping solos. The rhythm section of bassist Amelia Morris and drummer Joey Burke hold down tbe low end and unleash devastating rhythmic attack. The lyrics are also based from Joey’s fictional “dark fantasy world, Tythorin – a setting shaped by themes of vengeance, fate, grief, trauma, and the indomitable willpower of the human spirit”.
If you fancy an album that sounds like the bastard offspring of Bolt Thrower, Power Trip and Mercyful Fate then “Damnation’s Veil” is perfect for you. It is an album that pulls no punches and doesn’t fuck around being a nicely concise thirty seven minutes of quality over quantity. I was a big fan of Ninth Realm’s debut album “A Fate Unbroken” and this takes their sound further and into darker and more aggressive territory. Ninth Realm aren’t out to rewrite the rulebook when it comes to metal but rather draw from their musical influences, weave in their own lyrical concepts and sound like they are having a blast doing it. Nearly 45 years into its existence, thrash metal still sounds killer and Ninth Realm are one of the band’s keeping the thrash torch burning bright.
For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.
