ALBUM REVIEW: Barbarian – To No God Shall I Kneel

Here I review the brand new and highly anticipated 4th album from Blackened Heavy Metal mob BARBARIAN! Set for release via Hells Headbangers Records on June 7th.

1. Obtuse Metal opens with crackling fire samples to set the occult mood which is enhanced further by creepy spoken growls. We are drawn in with blistering Speed Metal guitar riffs and slamming upbeat drums, immediately setting a killer sound for the blackened, tormenting vocals that ensue. The impressive grooves and old school style of the band is something that gets you right into the glorious swing of the pounding release. A totally ferocious and catchy opening track, if you hear this and do not want to continue with the album, there is something damn wrong. Excellent.
2. Birth And Death Of Rish’Ah slowly grinds out epic chants coated in soaring guitars and maniacal drums before we quickly descent into frenzied assaults, pummelling out Heavy Metal mayhem with gorgeously intricate lead guitar riffs filled with lively energy. The wolven howls of the vocalist over the ripping instrumentals perfectly capture the mood of the music, not dissimilar to Midnight or Bewitcher, a sound that I for one adore. Thunderous bass and drum fills take the track swirling further into the abyss with totally class Speed Metal fury and a blistering solo to top it off. Wonderful.
3. Hope Annihilator cracks out blasting rhythms, built up drums and pristine picking that conjures of classic NWOBHM songwriting to build into the full speed assault ahead but not before we are given some drawn out guitar and bass, barrages of drum fills and ambient vocals. The monolithic momentum of the following aggression, packed with enticing grooves and luxuriously nostalgic production is fiercely intense. Whiplash riffing, bombastic drums and hellish vocals is what this song has to offer in conjunction with the blistering two that came before it, so far we have a consistent strength. Brilliant.
4. Sheep Shall Obey utilises some crushing slower guitar growls and cymbal crashes to touch on the more atmospheric side of things, also reintroducing the chilling chants. A slower, menacing sway is a nice break in the speed to show a smattering of diversity which does not in any way detract from the face-pace assault that comes around again with a forceful bass slide. Upbeat, swinging grooves filled with impact are what drives this track forth with head stomping rhythms. Definitely some Mosh Pit worthy music with its unrelenting chaos ever-present. The guitar solo was a fantastic King Diamond reminiscent piece of soulful string attack and the drum solo was totally killer and snappy. Utterly epic.
5. The Beast Is Unleashed thunderously roars in with bass guitar before insanity inducing guitar riffs shred away over the high-octane drum abuse. Maniacally howling over the relentless, unstoppable instrumental ferocity, the vocalist adds plenty to the forcefulness of the piece. With plentiful groove and attitude present, this track only adds even further to the menacing aggression of the album. The hammering drums and punchy guitars add a punky touch that swings out even more gruesome attitudes and rebuilds to further morbid assaults. There are some subtle atmospherics to the piece as well as the anthemic punches of Speed. Fantastic.
6. The Old Worship Of Pain falls into place with some clean guitars, something I did not expect but these quickly drop into sludgy riffing, with slower tempo and slightly doomy vibes adding a more morbid groove to the music with slightly more reserved vocals brought down to pace. The balladic style of the song is rather pleasant while not as violent as the other it does not feel wimpy or weakened, rather adding a nice touch of variety to the album. I really enjoyed the anthemic hints to this piece that surely can conjure up some bestial chanting from a crowd of maniacal fans. The song does indeed pick up the pace into some excellent old school, classic Heavy Metal style upbeat riffs and drum patterns that were totally glorious. Great stuff.
7. To No God Shall I Kneel sadly is the final track in this inferno of Metal. Starting off with battle-ready sampling, this is surely going to be one last glorious bout of Heavy Metal warfare. Thunderous drums slowly kick the song in with bass then adding crunchy grooves over them. Soaring, sleazy guitar then add in the blistering rhythms before finally the assault commences with slow tempo crawling bass taking the foreground with insanely howled vocals, though the guitars sleaziness does seep in with the bombastic drums. Clean vocal work adds to the anthemic war-cry of the song brilliantly. Lead guitars use this last opportunity to add some soulful melodies to the song. This last song (or battle-chant) is a killer ending to the album with a strong Manowar vibe to it. Gorgeously done.

This is some damn impressive, old school Blackened Speed Metal that screams of aggression with insanely driven instrumentals, howled vocals and whiplash rhythms present throughout. Certainly a must listen for fans of Midnight, Hellripper, Destroyer 666, Whipstriker and so on. Totally ferocious, a damn fine addition to the bands discography. -8.5/10