Band:	Lake Of Blood
Album:	Heed The Primal Calling
Style:	Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	July 22, 2008
A review by:	Lucas

01. Nameless I Arise
02. Heed The Primal Calling
03. The Darkest Path
04. Lake Of Blood

Lake Of Blood is an American band, signed to Milkweed Records, playing archetypical but nevertheless enjoying Black Metal. A quick search reveals that they are not featured on Metal-Archives (omfg n00b lolz?), which, it must be said, makes information about them rather hard to find. Thankfully there are still official label websites though, which tells us that this four-track EP is about "the story of man's return to a primal state of existence, free from the spoils of civilization" (hence the title).

With such a concept, Black metal is in my opinion the way to play, especially of the slightly raw, punkish brand, with Drudkh-esque passages thrown in. Track three "The Darkest Path" is my favorite song from this EP, its melodic guitars and Carpathian Forest-like punkish attitude mix very good. Every track has its own interesting riff, melody or vocal part though, and since it is quite short (roughly twenty minutes), my index-finger is constantly flirting with the repeat-button.

Vocalist "Haagr" sounds like a mix between the vocalist of Drudkh and the Ash Pool vocalist(s), though they are perhaps a bit too obscure and underground to use them as a reference. Take it from me that Haagr sounds raw and "epic", but can also blurt out a maniacal, desperate scream. That may sound like a description of Burzum's mid-era music and vocal type, and frankly, that is not far from the truth.

The conclusion of this review will be the same conclusion that a lot of bands deserve these days: good stuff, if you're knee-deep into the genre you will dig this. I don't want to attach any philosophical chatter about the lack of originality these days, as it simply should not matter with good music. Because that's what this is, good music.