LP Review: "Striking the Bell of Death" by Sins of the Damned

Striking the Bell of Death

During my formative years metal was growing divergent. Metal had left the blues and psychedelia based music like Sabbath.

Priest, Venom, Iron Maiden, and others had kind of put the stake in the heart of that. Things were kept, the progressive bent, the evil imagery, etc.

In the early to Mid 1980's though, a change happened. Different subsets of metal could co-exist on this plane.

From there we got Black Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Industrial Metal, and the return of Doom/Stoner Metal.

Now we're past the factioning off of all of the genres and into hybrid territories. Blackened Death Death Metal. Folkened Black Metal. Atmospheric Anything Metal. This is ever so pleasing to me, but what about a band that could reach into the past and pull upon the first thread in the tapestry?

That's what Sins of the Damned have done. The debut, Striking the Bell of Death, is a pure look back at 1984. It's proto-death, thrash, progressive, and all points in between.

It's a banger from start to finish. The anger of Venom, the dexterity of Iron Maiden, and the riffs of Metallica.

OUT 5/3/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK