A couple of summers ago I had that Lightning Swords Of Death/Valdur split on Heavy Rotation: Basically, two rugged black metal bands from California you wouldn't think were from California unless someone shouted out hometowns between blast beats. A few months ago I wrote up "Berserrker," a track from Valdur's subsequent album Raven God Amongst Us, which like most of their stuff, they self-released. (If you paid close attention, you should recognize the Raven title from a name of a track on that aforementioned split.) More theatrical than Valdur, post-split Lightning Swords Of Death were signed by Metal Blade, who imprinted the group's second album The Extra Dimensional Wound. The collection's been out for a bit, but I wanted to bring things full circle, and am always interested to look at the different angles American black metal bands take, so here's "Invoke The Desolate One."The Extra Dimensional Wound -- brutal, icy hot, super heavy, full of lurching "grooves," references to magickal thinking -- was recorded in Corona, CA and was mixed/mastered by Sverker “Necro” Widgren at Necromorbus Studios in Stockholm. Important details, because it really does have a curious blend of American and Swedish black metal sounds.
Lightning Swords Of Death - "Invoke the Desolate One"
The Extra Dimensional Wound is out via Metal Blade. The 12-minute closer "Paths To Chaos" finds the band really pushing toward something. You'll get a better idea of what that something may be via this interview my friend Grayson did with them.
