Spearhead - Theomachia
I have listened to this English Black/Death Metal album over and over, trying to figure out what to say about it. The difficulty is because Spearhead doesn’t combine Black and Death Metal so much as try to play both styles at once. The repetition of these simple Death Metal riffs doesn’t help, and borders on annoying at times, but this seems to be somewhat less of an issue at the rare slower tempos. Barghest’s vocals are decidedly on the Black side of the Metal spectrum, and while serviceable, are possibly too understandable. Maybe more rawness and/or low-end would help, but a bigger issue is how the vocal patterns fit with the music, which often feels a little odd. It’s like he’s screaming for a straight-up Black Metal band, but these guys only know how to write Death Metal riffs, and try to play them as Black Metal as possible, which the production certainly highlights. This may all sound like Theomachia is a bad album, and it’s absolutely not. But the skill is clearly displayed for this to be better. The Melechesh-esque riff and drumming at the beginning of “Prey to the Conqueror” is a highlight, as is the instrumental final track, “Aftermath.” Hopefully those are signs of greater things to come.
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