out now: Craven Idol -- ominous extremity from the U.K.

Craven Idol

Forked Tongues

Dark Descent Records

23 July 2021

According to Metal Archives, Craven Idol (U.K.) began in 2005 and did demos in 2006 and 2009 and an EP in 2010. In 2013 their debut album was released, with a follow-up in 2017, and now this is their third full-length album. Think of this British band in this context: In the 1980s the young U.S. bands like Metallica and Slayer were examples of the faster, tighter sounds, and European bands like Sodom, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Destruction, Tormentor/Kreator, and Bathory were examples of less polished, more chaotic interpretations, which all these bands would in time abandon in favor of a cleaner, streamlined sound. Craven Idol is a type of revival, a mission, if you will, to rescue the inheritance of the very early and brief years of those European bands, but to do it in proficiently, purposefully, to tighten up the bolts and screws, and resurrect that sound in a more skilled and vicious reiteration. A closer look into the album shows thrash-based riffing paired up with black metal melodies and riffs, for that headbanging, galloping style, sometimes enhanced with blasting drumming. Audiences into tight, action-packed, and generally fast-paced, and rhythm-centered guitar action should find here a good selection, with special attention to the die-hard supporters of the sounds of black thrash, cult thrash, black and headbanging extreme metal in general. For people that like comparisons, the general family of sounds here is Destroyer 666 and Desaster, or in the 1980s the first EP by Sodom and Destruction, or the first three Bathory albums, and the first two Sepultura and the first Sarcófago. This album has the last two songs lasting more than nine minutes each, demonstrating their ability in taking their sound into more ambitious visions for this strong, strong album.

Forked Tongues by Craven Idol