A brutal, breathing behemoth in four parts which is beyond epic, Oldblood’s debut EP release has more masterful Metal within its’ short space than many a full-length released this year.
Combining Desert Rawk and Doom with some heavy Black Metal tendencies, Arms To The Sky is a melting pot of extraordinary and expertly crafted heaviness that starts with the massive “Kuebiko” which lurches forward like Godzilla ominously breaching the surface and towering over the next city in the giant lizard’s path of destruction.
“Nuclear Blues” is filled with these Kyuss-like moments especially with the bounce in the step of guitarists Joey Williams and Tom Pratt’s playing before turning to a wail to match the ferocious vocals. Lee Barter’s solemn yet primal pounding begins “Alone” amidst some sinister pluckings backed by a menacing hum from bassist Brendan Coles and then enters into a full-blown shredder with Melvins-like raucousness driving the mood during the latter half of the song.
“Los Alamos” sounds so familiar to start in this Desert Rawk classic way or like a Progressive Modern Metal great (Think Mastodon) and then expands into a Doom-laden dirge. As a whole in regards to this track, and the entirety of Arms To The Sky for that matter, broad is simply too narrow a term for the scope of sound that Oldblood bring to the table and if you’re a fan of the heavy then you’d be doing your ears a great disservice by not diving into their sonic world as soon as possible.
Arms To The Sky arrives through Blood Blast Distrubution on December 4th. Pre-order yours now by heading here. For the latest on Oldblood, follow them across the interwebs by clicking here, here, or here.