CHRISTBANE – Christbane

This my first encounter with the foul and unholy Australian/Canadian combo known as Christbane, and I must say that their barbaric and filthy brand of straightforward black/death metal is right up my ugly alley. The ten-track (and 20-minute long) effort, which was released on CD by Regimental Records and digitally by the band themselves, is a short and concise affair but where the majority of its blackened hymns manage to get the job done properly in less than 120 seconds, which is mighty impressive. In other words, they are highly effective and potent with respect to getting their point across, and they obviously never outstay their welcome.

Hyper-intense and forceful, aggressive as fuck, and above all surprisingly catchy, this self-titled album is undoubtedly a rather refreshing listen to these ears, and I really dig such explosive and sinister songs as ‘Barbarism’, ‘Incinerate’, and ‘Nullified’. Only a couple of tracks do very little for me and pale in comparison to the others, so in the overall perspective this is a delightfully punishing and morbidly appealing record that is musically cohesive and worth investigating. Evil and unnerving are the keywords here, folks.