Black Lava - Soul Furnace (2022) Hi-Res

Born from the unstable and uncertain times of 2020-2021, Melbourne, Australia’s BlackLava was conceived from soul crushing isolation. Sharing a diverse love of black metal, death metal and progressive music, drummer Dan Presland (Vipassi, AMDBL, ex Ne Obliviscaris) and Guitarist Ben Doyle (Vipassi, AMDBL) started building a solid foundation of old school black and death metal with hellish progressive elements and groove laden sludgy melodies. The project, originally spawned of frustration, quickly turned into more than just jam sessions and the pair added friend Rob Watkins (Blackhelm) on vocals and Tim Anderson (Blackhelm) on bass. The stunning result, SoulFurnace, being released on Season of Mist is grimy dark atmospheres, dissonant organic textures, and the suffocating heaviness of being dragged through a burning black swamp still alive, your flesh blistering with boiling muddy water. Your mud caked lungs fail as they fill of liquid fire.

Aptly named, this debut record is an unforgiving inferno. Lit for eternity, burning, and devastating everything in its path. The grating, aggressive guitars linger between intricate dark string patterns to fast sludgy riffs with swarming intensity and heavy doomy crawls. All with overtones of unusual chord arrangements and proggy song structures that often lead to fervent, neck snapping grooves. The colossal sounding bass plays a key role in the oppressive feel of the record, often becoming the focus of a nasty oppressive pummelling amongst some of the grimmer airy guitar parts. The slithery low ended beast frequently lurks just below the surface waiting for the right moment to emerge above with its flailing tentacles bashing everything with great force. Complex, but song serving drums are precisely done and ensures everything melds together effortlessly while maintaining their imposing style. Destroying blast beats, intricate cymbal work and expert fills are infectious and virtuous. Gritty, throaty yells reach out to the apocalyptic soundscapes as if they’re looking for more victims. Not being your average run-of-the-mill death metal vocals, they’re more of a mid-range gravely black metal growl/yell with some unorthodox character to it. The uniqueness of this album is remarkable, four skilled musicians coming together to assault your senses with ignited intensity and challenging soundscapes.

Produced by Troy Mccosker at Bushido Studios, mixed by Kurt Ballou and mastered by Alan Douches, Soul Furnace is clearly in the hands of some of the industry’s best. Soul Furnace sounds like uncontrolled wildfires in the harshest cold of a winter storm. Blazing but bone chilling, every note is pronounced and clear. Each instrument comes together with a grisly filthiness, forming an ungodly ambience to the unforgiving musical landscape Black Lava has created.

It’s safe to say every element on Soul Furnace just works. It’s disgustingly heavy, harsh, jagged, and interweaves accessibility with many brutal extremes. This is not an easy listen, yet it’s so memorable, you’ll be drawn to it over and over again like a fluttering moth to a flame. Tracks like Baptised in Ice with frosty guitar riffs, uneasy movement, and powerful drums. It grooves and contorts itself nastily from dissonant progressiveness to bullet spitting percussion and chainsaw guitars. Eye of the Moon’s mid paced crawling textures turn to tight crunchy riffs with a gravel toned vocal hook. Black metal inspired to the bone; the track feels blasphemous. Northern Dawn, with its old school death metal feel, is absolutely ferocious metallic riffs, driving key parts of the song. The track takes an ugly turn to discordant string textures that are slightly off, adding a queasiness to the blistering track. At this point, there’s not much left to say, I honestly don’t know why you’re still reading. This is extreme metal at its very finest. Get it now.