Visigoth - Final Spell (EP)

Fuckin' Bandcamp's the shit! That is where I found this Salt Lake City quintet that named themselves after a mighty Germanic tribe...how metal is that? And these guys are fucking true metal to the core. They released a demo in 2010 and then this EP in 2012 entitled Final Spell. This band appears to be the brainchild of Jake Rogers who is the epic black/folk metal band Gallowbraid. Well this guy is someone to watch out for in the future because both bands are of high quality. But with Visigoth it is true metal that takes me back to 83 listening to Metal Shop on the radio. I can't get enough of this. This is the second major discovery of a true metal band in two weeks and my old metal heart could never be happier.

These guys come right out of the shoot with the opener "Creature of Desire" and this song just rocks. The riffs are plenty and the vocals are excellent, especially the harmonies and the chorus is really catchy and melodic. It's nothing out of this world or innovative, just the heavy metal that I grew up on. The production is nice and clean without being too modern or sounding plastic. The solos are really good without being too technical or pretentious and the song if full of hooks. I know some will say that the songs are too long as all of the songs on this EP are over five minutes but for me that only adds to the beauty of it all. This is music where the songs can be long because there's always something going on and it's always good!

Sadly this is only a four song EP but they do not waste any time with keeping it going. The title track is more of the same as they continue the aural assault of huge riffs and massive solos. The vocalist sounds really old school with a solid range, nothing too earth shattering but it's good. He's got a clean voice and he gets the job done quite well. As I said before, the harmonies are really good. The last song "Call of the Road" is the same way, massive old school riffs and a melodic chorus that I'm still humming. There is a song on there called "Seven Golden Ships" that is probably the most modern sounding song on the album being tuned way down but it's not riffless chugging, there's plenty going on. The song is a bit slower but it has great hooks and the chorus is catchy. Halfway through it speeds up and that blazing solo is just godly.

The only really letdown of this EP is that it's too short. I can't wait to hear a proper album from these guys. I understand that these guys recently got signed to Metal Blade so we'll have to see what's next for this band. It seems that there is a huge crop of really old school bands out there, some good and some not so good. This is one of the better ones for sure. Hopefully with some recognition these guys could go far.

8.5/10