ALBUM REVIEW: The Final Sin – Irdorath

IRDORATH have been churning out their breed of blackened thrash for nearly fifteen years. From their underappreciated debut Götterdämmerung back in 2007, all the way to Denial Of Creation in 2017. Their latest release, The Final Sin, seems to be the result of so many years homing in on their unique sound, delivering a relentless, energetic and explosive release that doesn’t over-indulge their creative talents or wander into the realms of repetitiveness

The black metal element of their sound comes through immediately in the dramatic opening moments of Chains of Virtue. Sound effects give way to a slow first verse, which in turn gives way to an explosive, blast beat-laden opener. The vocal style of front man Markus Leitner falls somewhere between VEKTOR and HATEBREED, while IRDORATH really do bridge the gap between thrash and black metal, exactly as they claim to. They leave the intentional lo-fi sound of black metal behind and move towards a polished and aggressive, but often rather melodic, sound that places them on the thrash side of the spectrum. At the same time, they almost exclusively replace the semi-shout of thrash with the menacing scream of black metal, while retaining the darkness and dissonance of black metal riffage.

Moments of magnificent melody are interspersed between their rapid aggression of the rhythm section. The chorus of Debaptised, for example, suddenly introduces us bright, sing-along melodies that wouldn’t feel out of place in a CHILDREN OF BODOM track. They aren’t afraid to throw in flavour of other genres, though: Redeemer Of The Heretics kicks off with their distorted take on jazz, with a punchy bass line and some world-class funk drumming sitting beneath extended chords; while Divine reaches NILE-like levels of brutal death metal at its mid-point.

Things don’t really let up as the album reaches its conclusion either. Each track explores a new pace and tone, with experimentation with vocal delivery, lyrical content and genre-mixing keeping things fresh. In fact, IRDORATH leaves their finest effort until almost the very end, burying funky rhythms deep within Shatterer of Worlds, the album’s eighth track. The tune might have stuck to its lo-fi intro for a little too long and kept us waiting for those scorching moments of headbanging bliss for too long, but it’s a true highlight. IRDORATH keep their changes of pace up until the dying seconds of The Final Sin, concluding the journey with a shift from rumbling semi-slowness into a barrage of screams and speed.

The energy of this release reflects the energy this band is still able to maintain even five albums into their career. Ducking and weaving through genre and tempo yet maintaining our interest every step of the way, IRDORATH are certainly ones to keep an eye on. Naming the album The Final Sin does raise the question of whether this album was intended to be their swan song. Let’s hope this doesn’t end up being the case, and we’re given another pentalogy of genre-defying albums.

Rating: 8/10

The Final Sin is out now via Art Gates Records. 

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