The Language of Thunder : A Benefit for Tornado Victims of Southern Kentucky

    This past December severe storms devastated certain parts of the United States with Kentucky being hit the hardest. Snow Wolf Records and Unsavory Records have joined forces to create a compilation album featuring thirteen metal bands from Kentucky as a way to raise money for those who were impacted by the tornado. 

    I truly believe that this compilation is a great way to help an important cause, while also providing an opportunity to promote some extremely talented local metal bands that care about their communities. Some of the tracks on the compilation are previously unreleased songs and demos, which I find will give listeners a perfect glimpse into what these bands are capable of offering. Some of the bands on this compilation I have heard of before since Snow Wolf Records has sent me promos in the past, but for the most part this would be my first time hearing a lot of these bands. 

    Also to point out, there is a fair amount of diversity when pertaining to the representation of the various metal subgenres, so I find that metal fans will be able to hear an abundance of musical creativity throughout the album. If you are a fan of bloodthirsty raw black metal, sickening old school death metal and even just solid classic heavy metal music, then this album will have you covered. Hell, you even have an act like Pulse diNura which dives into this heart pounding hallucinogenic blackened electronic industrial sounding world with the song, “Drinking Tyrants’ Blood from a Paper Cup (Pardon the Fangs)." 

    I did notice that the album showcases a fair amount of black metal bands, although I cannot complain given the auspiciously sinister sounding quality of the recordings. To start, the band Brood in Black (Not to be confused with the wrestling faction known as The Brood) contributed an inhumanly vicious track called, “Vampyric Lust.” The song conveyed a massive amount raw sounding dark energy, which reminded me a lot of Satanic Warmaster by creating a very haunting and abysmal atmosphere. Fornicus, Bihargam and Starer, all bands that I have encountered before listening to this compilation, each contributed spectacular sounding songs. Starer’s track, “The Flickering,” is a breath taking piece of atmospheric black metal music highly worth checking out along with the band’s previous releases. Another band that caught my attention was, Black Knife, a very no-nonsense unapologetic sounding black metal artist which contributed a short yet blistering piece of corpse ripping music titled, “Satan’s Wolves.” 

    Two bands that I felt stood out from the rest of the crowd were Blood Curse and Thumos. Blood Curse is a band that I definitely want to hear more of going forward as the band has a very strong classic NWOBH sound that reminded me of certain iconic metal bands such as Witchfinder General, Satan and Angel Witch. The catchy guitar riffs and feverish lead guitar parts really hook the listener from the beginning of the song until the end. In the case of Thumos, I believe listeners who appreciate instrumental progressive metal will really find the band's song, “Mysterium Cosmographicum,” extremely fascinating. The band pulls you in a variety of directions with these vibrant sounding dynamic compositions, thus creating a very atypical musical landscape.

    Overall, “The Language of Thunder,” is an album highly worth checking out and each band is unbelievably talented. I wish I could have gone through each track and given more detail, but I hope to maybe cover some of these artists in the future, as the amount of extreme metal talent is undeniable. Snow Wolf Records and Unsavory Records did an exceptional job putting together this compilation to help an important cause, so I have a tremendous amount of respect for both labels. Unlike when those douchebag celebrities got together and did a rotten cover of John Lennon’s, “Imagine,” the artists featured on this compilation actually provided killer sounding music for a good cause that did not make you want to vomit. 

Link Below to the Compilation via Snow Wolf Records: 

https://snowwolfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-language-of-thunder

Entire Track Listing Below: 

1. Stonecutters - Creatio Ex Nihil  

2. Starer - The Flickering 

3. Black Knife - Satan's Wolves 

4. Fire Messiah - Stars of the Maniac Revival 

5. Blood Curse - Destitute  

6. Thumos - Mysterium Cosmographicum 

7. Moonknight - Weakhearted 

8. Ad Infinitum - Submerge 

9. Bihargam - Anti-Angel (demo) 

10. Brood in Black - Vampyric Lust 

11. Fornicus - One Mass Grave  

12. El Astronauta - Give Up the Ghost 

13. Pulsa diNura - Drinking Tyrants' Blood from a Paper Cup (Pardon the Fangs Remix)