{"id":103083,"date":"2024-04-18T00:00:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T23:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=103083"},"modified":"2024-05-01T12:54:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T11:54:36","slug":"ep-review-earthblood-witchburner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-earthblood-witchburner\/","title":{"rendered":"EARTHBLOOD – Witchburner EP (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

EARTHBLOOD
Witchburner EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nInverse (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve seen this Finnish band described as sludge-thrash, which is why I hopped on board this sophomore EP. With Earthblood\u2019s 2023 debut EP Primal Fury<\/em> I was impressed by the mix of faster, bruising segments and more robust, almost hardcore slower passages, and Witchburner<\/em> follows a similar trajectory; sweaty, confrontational metal that grunts and chugs with dirty weight before suddenly splitting your skull with a burst of speed.<\/p>\n

Although the vocals of guitarist Jere Halonen and bassist Joel Notkonen are hostile, the barks could literally belong to everyone, and the reality here is that Earthblood don\u2019t exactly have an identity. However, it\u2019s the power of the band which really carries them. The title track is a furious thrasher that clubs you like a thawed Neanderthal uncomfortable in their new environment.<\/p>\n

Earthblood are to the point, but it\u2019s great to hear the more traditional metal melodies which open \u2018Sons Of Heavy Rain\u2019, although it isn\u2019t long before the band launch into a blistering attack consisting of Niko Kauhanen\u2019s bruising drums. However, the track boasts a really catchy chorus too and it came as a pleasant surprise. Closer \u2018Swamp Hammer\u2019 begins with a stoned and muddy trudge before the vocals channel Lemmy from Mot\u00f6rhead as the clan embarks on a mid-tempo charge, flattening all like a mammoth bulldozer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s strange how this rugged three-song EP feels like it has no real thrills and yet there are those bombastic choruses and shifts between stoner sludge and, yes, thrashier explosions. Good, strong stuff.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EARTHBLOODWitchburner EP Inverse (2024)Rating: 7\/10 I\u2019ve seen this Finnish band described as sludge-thrash, which is why I hopped on board this sophomore EP. With Earthblood\u2019s 2023 debut EP Primal Fury I was impressed by the mix of faster, bruising segments and more robust, almost hardcore slower passages, and Witchburner follows a similar trajectory; sweaty, confrontational […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5672],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-earthblood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103085,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103083\/revisions\/103085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}