Sunday 6 November 2016

Eyes of the Raven - Seasons End EP (2016)

Genre - Heavy Metal / Groove Metal / Hard Rock / Biker Rock
Label - Self Released

Track listing:
01 - Cast The First Stone
02 - Lessons In Blasphemy
03 - Redeemer
04 - Sometimes Bruised, Never Broken
05 - Bury Your Demons

Formed in 2009, Eyes of the Raven are a Groove metal/Stoner band from the Black Country England. Brought up on Black Sabbath, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Entombed and Anthrax to name a few, the collective souls of Eyes of the Raven became solid honest beer drinking musicians with the determination to write and play heavy as hell riffage.
Now to say that this Ep has been a long time coming is major understatement, we are talking Chinese Democracy anticipation here, with the band threatening to drop this EP since 2010! That creates a strange problem though, as most of the fans ever growing fan base will already be very familiar with all of the five tracks on offer here, which to be honest does take a little away from the excitement of the release, but on the other hand it is great to finally have definitive recorded versions of the songs that they have been loving so much at the live show!

So how does the EP sound? Well pretty darn good to be frank. With Seasons End, Eyes of the Raven deliver five great well written and performed tracks, all of them killer with no fillers to be seen anywhere!
One of the bands greatest assets is the plain and simple fact that it is very hard to pigeon hole their sound, yes they are a metal band with many stoner and groove metal elements on display, but there are also some great hard rock sensibilities within their music to, so instead of trying to pigeon hole their sound you just kick back relax and enjoy the bloody music!
Seasons End opens up with Cast The First Stone, a dirty swaggering slab of hard rocking groove metal, pretty much a call to arms, a battle cry as such and therefore a more than fitting opener!
Next up we have Lessons In Blasphemy, the bands thunderous middle fingered salute to organised religion, that sees vocalist Dave Horan showcasing his pipes to great effect. Redeemer follows, with stoner metal styled opening, that opens up in to quick tempo-ed rocker with some Black Sabbath overtones. Sometimes Bruised, Never Broken is the Ep's penultimate track, its also the bands anthem, a great song of defiance and resilience! Seasons End closes out with its heaviest track, the brilliant Bury Your Demons. This thunderous track just seethes with an anger that  sweeps the listener along, leaving them hungry for more as the EP comes to an all too soon end!

Well worth checking out and highly recommended!

Rating: 10/10







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