Ever hear one of those bands who are not thoroughly talented, tight, or refined, yet are a ton of fun to listen to? ACDC anyone? Ravencult are a band I plucked off the promo list because of their name –which is bad ass and I found that they were just about what I thought they would sound like. Here is a Blackened Thrash band that incorporates elements of Punk and Death Metal, and they make it fun for the listener. The guitar tones might be a little loose, and the drum production may be slightly fuzzed, but this is a fun band.

Morbid Blood is one of those album I’ll blast with the windows down, albeit for the one week we get this type of weather in South Florida. This is the kind of album that feels like it was written in a garage, by guys just like me, who are good but not great at their instruments, and just want to have fun with some violent music. The use of blast beats around certain riffs that have a Punk-ish attitude such as on the sixth track, With Hunger in Eyes. is a lot of fun. The band hail from Athens, Greece, but sing in English. The vocalist has an especially exciting sound, with enough production to loosely grasp what he is trying to say, but not enough to revoke the harshness of his act. On some songs, the drums can star, but on most it is a collective band effort, with each musician playing well but none outshining the others.

The album rightfully opens with some loosely played open sounding notes detuned over blast beats. This song, Sacrilege of Death really sets the tone for the album. It really is a killing song, with thumping combinations of bass guitar and deep bass drums to couple together in a powerful stroke. The vox here assert themselves, with this track laying the framework for what most of the album will sound like. This song is a lot of fun, with some speedy double bass interplaying with ride cymbal blast beats.

Possessed on Burial Ground is a little slower, and has to be my favorite song on Morbid Blood. There are some gritty guitar riffs here, with this song and its title being one of the cooler tracks from the Greek scene in a while. There are a nice assortment of simple drum beats to work in conjunction with the harsh vox and Punk style Blackened riffs. One of the strengths of the band, is despite their lack of production value and their simplistic and more or less blended songs, they use a number of genre specific influences that make the band more fundamental, yet slightly diversified.

With the track Snakes Crawl, we see a more Black Metal influence, with blast beats laid under a higher tremolo picked riffs, which of course is the hallmark of second wave Black Metal. The same styling riff is played while the drums slow for a moment, incorporating toms in the mix, a nice diversification to the heaviness of this song.

Overall, Morbid Blood is nothing spectacular, but if you want something to pump some weights to, or just enjoy on the road. It is not an introspective album, or one that leaves thought, but it pummels the ears and keeps you head banging all the way through.