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EP Review: Riding a Dark Horse | Knight ‘High on Voodoo’

3 mins read

How do I express myself? When you read something, you’ll always find words embossed on a regular background. Your mind’s trained to appreciate the words and the background if it appeals enough or you choose to. The mind does no longer confuse between the words, your mind “gets” what reading means. So, if I were to, say, discern between reviewing Death Metal or Thrash Metal or Speed Metal or Whatever-the-fuck-Altars-of-Plagues is, the mind would completely adapt to the rudiments. No matter how novel or truly unprecedented the work is there are certain attributes that are expected from a work that aligns itself from a genre, say Heavy Metal.

To truly explore, understand, and reward it with insight is the reviewer’s job.
And today’s job is reviewing Heavy Metal traditionalists’ Knight’s debut EP ‘High on Voodoo’ that was released on December 25 2017 on Slaytanic Records. For the uninitiated, Slaytanic Records is the record label from the same house as Slaytanic Distro is. Brijraj Agarwal, the owner of the label, chose old school Knight EP to be SLAY 001 CD. Wise move. Well for no fucking reason, this EP’s title reminds me of Sabbath’s Mob Rules [Go, figure]. The artwork that seems to me as an assimilated narrative of Buddhist and Ghoulish aesthetics has been done beautifully in an analogous manner by Jigmet Wangchok. It looks fucking badass but doesn’t really compliment the album, thematically. No problems since a lot of album covers have tended to do so.

Knight Logo 1

CD slammed into the tray. Bullet belt strapped. Beers popped open. Hairs undone. Let’s fuck.

The album starts off with the minute-long intro track that has been named ‘Invocation’ that plays around one rhythm played on-loop. The intro denotes invoking of a deity (Maybe the one on the cover) but it sounds more like a really cool 80’s underdog-music riff than an incantation. Either way, it sets up the mood for the EP quite well. The second track is the first full track ‘The Ventriloquist’ that was released as a single as well. And for damn good reason. The Ventriloquist is an amazing track that quickly sets up an old school riff. The best part about the song and the EP is the intense, crafty, and Manilla Road-esque vocals. The vocals by Shibam Talukdar have the accent performed REALLY well. It does not rely upon Dickinson-ish vocals but instead, go for less-operatic and straight-to-business vocals that sound cohesive with the guitars and drums. The riff has its fair share from Sabbath (which riff doesn’t?) and I mean that in the most sincere way possible. The solo hits but never misses. When it comes to the old school, you could either belong to primitive sounds like Sodom, Venom, Tank, or the relatively cleaner sound like almighty Manilla Road, Titan Force. This EP, production-wise certainly belongs to the latter.

High On Voodoo Album ArtworkThe third track ‘Master of Dreams’ is nothing short of Rolf Kasparek [Running Wild], Algy Ward [Tank] worship with dynamics vocals. The riffs and drumming in the song are perfectly functional. The swing-oriented Jazz-y drumming in this track instantly reminds one of Bill Ward. Even though the song has a Priest like a feel to it, it most definitely has a gothic King Diamond-like atmosphere to it. And it sounds amazing. At this point in the EP, the drum production does irk a bit, since the bass and drums have been performed so well, it’d been better to introduce a bit more tone and volume to the drums. The final and longest song of the EP is ‘Break The Chains’ and I am all about the song. The vocal delivery is spectacular; it is the anthem for the EP. The song is sure about itself. The solo is dissonant, sharp, reflective, and sounds amazing with perfect drumming. Bring that together with the consistently intense riff, what a track!

When all’s said and done, this extended play of fifteen minutes is some pretty neat Heavy Metal. Is it Old School? Shit yes. The kind of old school that follows Crystal Logic and lives upon the motto of Death or Glory. If you are remotely intrigued by Heavy Metal, this is for you. If you remotely care for Manilla Road & Cirith Ungol, you NEED to have this. If you remotely care about Traditional Heavy Metal from this sub-continent, the kind that is not flashy but tells a tale around a riff, you need to have this. People who find High Spirits, Eternal Champion, Evil Invaders & Ranger intriguing should get this. Besides, a murky production for drums this band aligns itself with bands like Against Evil, Kryptos, Falcun but it has something very meditative to it. The riff is not very diverse and it doesn’t want to be. Because it builds upon the one riff and meditates upon it with variations of reliable bass, drums & vocals.

Official Bandcamp link: https://knightofficial.bandcamp.com

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