Kev Rowland Iliac Thorns is a melodic death group hailing from Kotka, Finland. Originally formed in 2010 as a trio, it took until 2011 for the guys to find a bassist. They released their first EP ‘Prevailing Shapes of Hell’ in 2012 and then signed a deal with Inverse Records to release their debut album in May 2013. In some ways this is quite an unusual album in that they mix some very raw and extreme black metal with death, which means that there is an edge to what is going on, certainly much harsher than the way that they describe it themselves as being “8 songs of blackened melodeath which attacks the core of listeners like a ton of black sludge.”

Sludge is certainly not a word that I would use to describe this, as there is much more going on than that implies. But, I do have some concerns about the production and the way that some of the songs have been constructed as there is very much a demo feel over some of this. I know that there is a feeling with some bands that there is a need for music to sound as if it was recorded in the Eighties and then released on cassette for it to be true to the genre, but I would much rather have something that knocks me over than has me straining to understand everything that is going on. But, there is some real promise here and I look foreward to hearing what else these guys do even if I don’t think that this is indispensable. www.inverse.fi