Review by Felix on June 27, 2024.

A good production can help a lot – and vice versa. I am still undecided whether or not I like the one of Runespell’s debut. It is attractive in a certain way, not least because of its gloomy mood. On the other hand, everything sounds very muffled, not very powerful and intertwined. I hear less the individual instruments and the voice and much more a single note. There are also minor weaknesses in individual details. With the snare, it remains unclear whether a drum or a piece of cardboard is being struck. In view of these pros and cons, I take every critic's last exit and realise that it is a question of individual taste whether or not you can make friends with the technical implementation of the songs.

After so much indecision, I would like to take a clear position elsewhere. The quiet, atmospheric third track robs the album of intensity and I consider an Absurd cover to be problematic, for reasons that I probably don't need to explain. Incidentally, “And the Wolves Guide Me Home” is also just ambient banter. Well, you can leave it as an outro, but who really needs all these outros all the time? All in all, however, this also means that only four regular, original compositions remain, which I think is a bit of a shame. After all, this quartet spans 29 minutes and what is even better is that there is no lack of quality. Already on this debut, the multi-talented Nightwolf defines his style, a fiery mix of tragedy and despair, power and fury. His snarls and roars lend both the sad melodies and the spontaneous outbursts of rage the necessary vicious colouring. The result is a rather rustic, original black metal that doesn't care about speed records or icy minus temperatures, but creates a darkness of its own kind.

The typical artwork indicates the musical content perfectly. Although I am not the biggest fan of one-man-projects, I admit that a lot of them have enriched the global scene with their ambitions, their strength of implementation and their spirituality. I would like to emphasise the latter feature again with regard to “Unhallowed Blood Oath”. The four original compositions can take the listener on a journey if they allow themselves to. In this respect, too, the stormy but flat Absurd cover fails to score points.

Nightwolf's complete pieces, so to speak, do not show any major differences in quality. Presumably you either like none or, like me, all of them. However, I am surprised that Graveland ranks at the top of the list of similar artists. Because unlike Mr Darken's songs, which wallow endlessly in their almost meditative uniformity, Nightwolf sets more different accents by frequently changing parts. Line underneath, what is the conclusion? “Unhallowed Blood Oath” is no flawless, but a recommendable debut whose whose spiritual father has also proven his integrity and perseverance in the meantime. To lend an ear to this album is surely no mistake.

Rating: 7.3 out of 10

Review by Felix on June 27, 2024.

A good production can help a lot – and vice versa. I am still undecided whether or not I like the one of Runespell’s debut. It is attractive in a certain way, not least because of its gloomy mood. On the other hand, everything sounds very muffled, not very powerful and intertwined. I hear less the individual instruments and the voice and much more a single note. There are also minor weaknesses in individual details. With the snare, it remains unclear whether a drum or a piece of cardboard is being struck. In view of these pros and cons, I take every critic's last exit and realise that it is a question of individual taste whether or not you can make friends with the technical implementation of the songs.

After so much indecision, I would like to take a clear position elsewhere. The quiet, atmospheric third track robs the album of intensity and I consider an Absurd cover to be problematic, for reasons that I probably don't need to explain. Incidentally, “And the Wolves Guide Me Home” is also just ambient banter. Well, you can leave it as an outro, but who really needs all these outros all the time? All in all, however, this also means that only four regular, original compositions remain, which I think is a bit of a shame. After all, this quartet spans 29 minutes and what is even better is that there is no lack of quality. Already on this debut, the multi-talented Nightwolf defines his style, a fiery mix of tragedy and despair, power and fury. His snarls and roars lend both the sad melodies and the spontaneous outbursts of rage the necessary vicious colouring. The result is a rather rustic, original black metal that doesn't care about speed records or icy minus temperatures, but creates a darkness of its own kind.

The typical artwork indicates the musical content perfectly. Although I am not the biggest fan of one-man-projects, I admit that a lot of them have enriched the global scene with their ambitions, their strength of implementation and their spirituality. I would like to emphasise the latter feature again with regard to “Unhallowed Blood Oath”. The four original compositions can take the listener on a journey if they allow themselves to. In this respect, too, the stormy but flat Absurd cover fails to score points.

Nightwolf's complete pieces, so to speak, do not show any major differences in quality. Presumably you either like none or, like me, all of them. However, I am surprised that Graveland ranks at the top of the list of similar artists. Because unlike Mr Darken's songs, which wallow endlessly in their almost meditative uniformity, Nightwolf sets more different accents by frequently changing parts. Line underneath, what is the conclusion? “Unhallowed Blood Oath” is no flawless, but a recommendable debut whose whose spiritual father has also proven his integrity and perseverance in the meantime. To lend an ear to this album is surely no mistake.

Rating: 7.3 out of 10

Review by Michael on April 3, 2024.

Two years after Slave Driver Dead Head (still one of the most underrated thrash bands in the whole universe and probably in all parallel universes) from the Netherlands offered a new EP called Shadow Soul with eight brand new tracks to celebrate their 35th band anniversary. To call this an EP is pretty hard though, considering how many bands released less than 30 minutes running time as a full-length album.

So here we go with a total running time of around 28 minutes and pretty much all catchiness and aggression in the songs. Not too much has changed in the style of the quartet but what is quite remarkable is that they found back to the groovy parts I missed a little bit on Slave Driver. A song like 'Serpents Of Fame' starts as a fantastic mid-tempo stomper with many simple yet effective riffs to bang along with and vocalist Ralph de Boer who is on board again since Slave Driver spits a lot of hatred into the microphone. In the ongoing process of the song the guys pick up the pace and so the serpent reminds pretty much of Dark Angel. But not DA only are a source of inspiration but also old Kreator like in 'The Age Of Hype' (which also was the first single from the EP) clearly shows. The guitar leads sound very much like the Germans did back on their albums up to “Extreme Aggression” and of course there are some similarities in Ralphs high vocals, too. When you listen to his other band, Bodyfarm, you couldn't guess that this is the same person because his vocals sound so so much different in both bands. With 'Defiance' and 'Dark Emptiness' there are also two short instrumental tracks on the album. While 'Defiance' is a quite fast and catchy introduction for 'The Age Of Hype' with some riot samples in the background, 'Dark Emptiness' is the outro for 'Shadow Soul' so to speak. This one turned out pretty much atmospheric and very different from the usual style Dead Head play. Maybe you pick up some acoustic stuff from “The New Order” by Testament and then you get what I mean. The other tracks I didn't mention in detail are also kept very thrashy and much more accessible than some of the stuff on Slave Driver. If I had to compare it to some previous Dead Head stuff, I would day it is like Haatland which is my second favorite Dead Head album after the fantastic Dream Deceiver.

So, let's celebrate the 35th anniversary of the very likable Dutch guys by listening to this album and (because it is legal to smoke weed in the Netherlands) maybe do it while smoking some pot like the mummy on the cover does. But only if you were born when Kill Division was released already please!

Rating: 9 out of 10 shadow souls