On their debut album Eternal Flames of Hell the Barcelona band Inverted Cross wickedly uphold a lot of age-old metal traditions: the traditions of the five-pointed star, of bullet belts and gauntlets, of goat-headed demons and blasphemous words, and of course the inverted cross itself.
But more to the point, they uphold the traditions of venomous black thrashing speed metal that will get rattled heads hammering and heated blood rushing, proudly and violently following the ripped path of such bands as Destruction, Sodom, Kreator, Deathrow, and Violent Force.
Today you’ll get the full blast of their hellfire, as we premiere a complete stream of Eternal Flames of Hell in advance of its November 29 release by Helldprod Records.
photos by Laura Ortega Girona
Inverted Cross set the stage with album opener “March of the Fallen“, whose swirling and brazen organ notes create visions of ominous and haunting grandeur. And then the band quickly crank up the heat, launching an “Attack With Hellfire“, and they don’t cool off until the end — though they do deliver some hellish twists and turns along the way
“Attack With Hellfire” is a fiery mission statement, a thundering gallop that blazes with piercing and pernicious guitar-work. The high-speed fretwork generates spinning, swirling and darting sensations with white-hot clarity and jubilant delirium, capped by the first of the album’s always-spectacular solos, and fronted by scarring and scalding vocals that conjure the ravenous wrath of demon dogs and gnashing wolves, and a terrorizing scream at the end.
As the album goes on, the bone-bruising heaviness of the bass and skull-cracking ferocity of the drums continue providing the viscerally compelling propulsion, powering the big galloping beast so that the band’s dual guitarists can go wild, spewing forth one head-hooking riff after another and an abundance of leads and solos that seem like the frantic cavorting of elemental fire spirits.
As the music twists and turns through one electrifying display of fleet-fingered guitar wizardry after another, the songs generate sensations of unhinged viciousness, diabolical sorcery, deranged exultation, moaning agony, and evil imperiousness. Through it all, the dual vocalists bark, cackle, and expel falsetto screams like the filthy and heartless heads of Cerberus.
Among those twists and turns is the more mid-paced “Into the Crypt of the Necromancer“, whose rhythm sounds like a black freight train pumping down the rails and whose riffing creates moods of beastly menace. Though the band eventually stomp on the accelerator, the rushing freight-train image doesn’t go away; even the solo sounds like the wail and warp of some otherworldly siren.
But Inverted Cross don’t ease up on the accelerator very often. This is the kind of album you want when you need big bursts of adrenaline and lots of evil grins. Those bursts are all over the place. Though “Black Leather Hordes” may be the most explosive of all, all the songs are capable of setting your nerves on fire and giving your head a swift spin. See for yourselves:
INVERTED CROSS is:
Guille Hungover – Bass & Vocals
Philip Graves – Guitars & Vocals
Alis Demonized – Guitars
Chris Carrest – Drums
Eternal Flames of Hell was recorded by Philip Graves and Jaume Perna Jack Dark. It was mixed and mastered by Gonzalo Vivero at In The Red Audio. The hellish cover art is the work of Velio Josto.
Helldprod will release the album in a jewelcase CD format, available at a discounted price until the November 29 release day.
ORDER:
https://helldprod.com/shop/index.php
https://helldprod.bandcamp.com/album/inverted-cross-eternal-flames-of-hell
FOLLOW INVERTED CROSS:
https://www.facebook.com/InvertedCrossOfficial