Holy fuck this is brutal! Named for the troubled spirits of Romanian mythology that gave rise to the vampire myth, Strigoi arose from the ashes of Greg Mackintosh’s deliberately short-lived (and quite excellent) Vallenfyre project. Announced a few days after Vallefyre’s final show, Strigoi sees Greg joined by Chris Casket (Eastern Front, Devilment, Vallenfyre, Extreme Noise Terror) for an astonishingly vital take on old-school death metal. With Paradise Lost drummer Waltteri Vayrynen providing the studio drums (but not joining the bad full time), the twelve song abandon all faith is an extremely oppressive body of work that mixes elements of Paradise Lost’s early, Drown in Darkness – Gothic-era with crust and punk to devastating effect.
Opening with the scene-setting The Rising Horde, a crawling, wordless miasma that seems to seep out of the very ground, Strigoi evoke a sense of dread before unleashing Phantoms, a primal slab of blackest death metal. Immediately familiar thanks to Greg’s distinctive style, his stately guitar work is all but battered into submission by Walleri’s unhinged performance behind the kit. This, coupled with the guttural, bone-dry vocals, serves to drive the material to far darker depths than Paradise Lost’s more measured output; something that is rendered even more apparent on the short, indescribably savage Nocturnal Vermin, which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Napalm Death album. With its grinding riffs and off-kilter percussive sweeps, Seven Crowns is a masterclass in old school death that, in three short minutes, neatly summarises Strigoi’s modus operandi. Not content to sit still, however, Greg leads his band into another dizzying grind assault with Throne Of Disgrace, although it’s not quite as straight forward as it seems ad, with guitars tuned somewhere near the earth’s core, a kernel of doom emerges to drag everything tomb-wards once more. The first half concludes with Carved Into Skin, one of two tracks that breaks the five minute barrier, which sits somewhere between Sabbath, Paradise Lost and Autopsy in the chain of diabolical inspiration, the treacle-thick guitars offset by Greg’s trademark lead work and a sense of dark melody that leavens an atmosphere that would otherwise become untenable.
With a layer of distortion pushing the drums into the dark industrial territory of Thorns, Parasite opens the album’s second side with real venom and yet, also, a sense of groove that hooks the listener and triggers spontaneous bouts of head banging. Similarly, Iniquitous rage is both pummelling and breathlessly exciting, Greg clearly revelling in the opportunity to indulge his extremity at will. Things take a bleaker turn with the grinding horror of Plague Nation, another track that recalls the hellish overtures of Chris Reifert’s various projects. Even so, the sheer vitriol of the explosive Enemies Of God manages to stun, some ten tracks into the album, the band upping the ante on each subsequent number, and Greg’s delivery here is potent indeed. Scorn Of The Father also revels in its own grimness, the guitars tearing and clawing at the listener with untrammelled malice and, once again, the listener’s admiration is split between Greg’s increasingly brutal performance and Waltteri’s adrenalin-powered percussion, which sees him take on the aspect of a human octopus. The album ends with another lengthy piece in the form of the epic title track. A fitting end to the album, Abandon All Faith perfectly bridges the gap between the gothic majesty of Paradise Lost and the extremity of Vallenfyre, Chris Casket’s prowling bass underpinning the hellish choir and grinding riffs that dominate the song.
A truly exceptional album, Abandon All Faith builds upon the legacy of Vallefnyre and provides Greg with the perfect outlet for his more extreme inclinations. Whilst, at times, Greg’s distinctive tone dos come to the fore, what is notable about Strigoi is how fresh Greg’s take on old-school death metal sounds, not least thanks to the infusion of crust and grind, and everything form the performance to the production is spot on. A dark highlight of the year, Strigoi’s debut is a must for all extreme metal fans and yet another example of Greg Mackintosh’s rampant creativity. 8.5/10
