It may seem like there has been a flood of Black Metal reviews on MetalReviews.com lately. You know: new reviewers, new tastes, new passion and enthusiasm. New bands have been introduced to our readers. Speaking of Black, or at least Blackened, metal there was a band that I have introduced to our fans having reviewed both their demo and the first full-length. The band was Colorado’s dark souls Throcult.

Hunted demo and Soldiers of the Blackened War full-length behind their belt, Throcult continues to weave their extreme metal art with Stormbringer – Conjuration of the Nighthorde. Those who have read my reviews of Throcult previous releases know that I liked the band, their non-conformal attitude, the diversity with their blackened atmosphere summoned over steely sharp riffs. Having said all this, I have been putting off writing this review … because, at first, I could not quite get into Stormbringer. So, I gave it time. Don’t get me wrong, the band didn’t go soft. In fact, Throcult has become … possessed. Possessed in the obvious desire to produce their most non-compromisingly brutal platter to date. Since I didn’t quite expect that, it took me a while to grasp the clues.

Soldiers of the Blackened War, containing the tracks from the demo, provided for some slower atmospheric portions and even keyboard moments. Forget all that melodic sensibility crap, Stormbringer grabs the highest full-on blast tempo by the throat and never lets up except one short break on Through Fog of War. Along with this superfast and superbrutal drumming come dual guitars full of threnody. Tremolo pickings or not, it feels that Nick Jackson and Ivan Alcala are unleashed tigers that finally left the cage (Order of the Lunar Temple). The whole music experience on Stormbringer is disturbing as the riffs never settle in any pattern coming from all angles and directions. Sometimes with distinct metallic notes to them (Order of the Lunar Temple), sometimes a tornadic maelstrom trying to oddly harmonize (title track), these guitars are the album’s centerpiece. Constantly present they create that weird and scary atmosphere the band undoubtedly has been looking for. Who needs keyboards anymore?

I am speculating, but the changes with the band’s sound could be the result of the lineup changes. Only Alcala and Jackson are left from the time Soldiers has been released. Out is the keyboard player, the whole rhythm section has been replaced and Ivan took over on vocals for Chris Virgil as well. The latter is no big surprise since Ivan used to carry a part of vocal duties when he was with Cerberus. The new rhythm section of David Csicsely (drums) and Dave Borusch (bass), however, is very keen on blasting and provides the unrelenting tempo.

It does feel to me that Throcult has produced exactly the album they wanted to put out. Angry, weird, brutal and mystical at the same time. They felt like stepping up the “nasty” factor was in order, and it is their right. They have doubled the technicality of their music as well. This is no longer amateurs from Colorado trying to look scary. On the opposite side, I personally have missed that melodic sensibility they used to insert here and there. Not that it is all gone, but it is certainly covered with a snarl. Little tempo variations from song to song and tracks being separated only by short sample pieces makes nine cuts on Stormbringer meld together at times.

Not for a casual fan, or somebody just getting into extreme side of metal. Fans of faster Behemoth and Marduk are advised to give this a try.