Celestial Bloodshed – Cursed, Scarred And Forever Possessed (2008)

This album is the first ‘full length’ by these Celestial Bloodshed hailing from Norway. I put full length in quotes because the album lasts only 35 minutes or so. And in my opinion this is one of the problems with the release and not because it sucks and it’s too long (like many other releases). But because it left me wanting more!!

The band plays a traditional old school black metal that sounds very raw and brutal. No fancy things here, just the basic vocals, guitars, bass and drums combination.

This band does not need anything added to their music since their sound has been refined to perfection. While it does sound like older releases of Gorgoroth and many others, they have their own distinctive elements that make the album stand out.

The seven songs of this release leave the listener hungry for more raw nihilistic black metal, that only a few bands can execute to perfection. And Celestial Bloodshed have achieved such a feat, mixing all the traditional elements of Norwegian black metal and adding their own brutality to the mix. The only thing that I would say this release is missing is some shrieking vocals. The release only features mid-tone black metal vocals and while they are not bad they are still missing power.

In general I was quite surprised with this release. And I’ll add the band to my band’s to watch list. I would easily recommend this album to every black metal fan out there.