Label: Bat Zuge Records
Review by Tony Cannella
Holy crap! This is an unexpected surprise. The Gothic Death Metal duo Raven X hails from Ohio, USA and I have to say that on their debut album “Essence Without Light”, this band (or duo) delivers a pounding metal tour-de-force, which had yours truly thoroughly impressed and wanting more.
Even though Raven X has that Gothic Death metal tag, they also cross over into other areas like thrash and progressive metal– it is all delivered with the right amount of ferocity, aggression, anger and passion, but it also has its sensitive moments. They are comprised of two members and as the 57-minutes worth of music contained herein shows, they are two very talented people. Lead vocalist Nÿx sings mostly in an Angela Gossow extreme metal style, but occasionally she changes things up and sings in a clean, sensitive voice. It is disarming the first time you hear it, but it is way effective. She does each style equally well, but stays mostly with the extreme voice. Joining her is Khaos who handles ALL of the instruments and delivers some monstrous riffs and his solos are pretty virtuosic at times reminding me of some of the great guitar heroes of yore. Highlights include: “Angel of the Night”, “Blood of a Bitch”, “Immortal Beloved”, the 9-minute “Soul Suicide” and the cover of the King Diamond classic “Sleepless Nights” which closes the album. This is a great cover and does the original justice. I’m sure if King hears this, he’ll love it!
Raven X is one of those bands that while they may be lumped into a specific genre, but with “Essence Without Light” they also have the ability to transcend to other areas of the metal spectrum. As we all know metal is an unrestricting art form and Raven X are not bound by restrictions at all.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Erebos
- Angel of the Night
- Take the Pain
- Broken Light
- Blood of a Bitch
- Immortal Beloved
- Essence Without Light
- Poet
- Soul Suicide
- Sleepless Nights (King Diamond cover)
Line Up
- Nÿx – All Lyrics and Vocals
- Khaos – All music and Instruments
Links