Time Signature What the metal may tell...

Genre: Blackened thrash metal

Mongrel's Cross have always been good at balancing black metal and thrash metal in a way that highlights elements from both genres. This was true of their previous releases, and it's also true of this release.

The album basically has a cold opening, as the opening track 'Suffer the Witch to Live' starts bang on (actually, all the songs have cold openings). Starting out as a midtempo affair, the song explodes right into a blastbeat-centric black metal section. Throughout it running time, the song changes back and forth in tempo and in style, oscillating between black metal and thrash metal. This dynamic characterizes the entire album and is one of the things that make it a particularly enjoyable listen to me. Another thing that I appreciate is that, while dark and aggressive, the compositions are also inherently very melodic in that many of the black metal sections will have built-in harmonies or tremolo-picked lead melodies on top of the riffs. The guitar solos are also mostly melodic although there are some elements of shredding in there as well. 'Fate of the Grail PT I' is a very good example of this melodicism although it is pretty much a characteristic of all the songs.

The production is crisp and actually quite bottom-heavy for a black metal-adjacent release, and the musicianship and songwriting also come across favorably. I can imagine that some listeners might find the screechy vocals a tad grating or cartoony, but maybe black metal fans will appreciate it. I personally don't have a problem with it although I admit that it does take some getting used to.

Overall, this is another solid effort by Mongrel's Cross and it's recommended to fans of thrash metal and melodic black metal alike.

Time Signature Lead them from the promised land...

Genre: thrash metal

Black thrash is typically characterized by simplicity and primitiveness as well as a retrospective and raw production. Australian black-thrashers Mongrel's Cross' "The Sins of Aquarius" is considerably refined for a black thrash release, as the music is more multifaceted than your average black thrash release, and the production is not exactly raw or lo-fi.

That being said, there are definitely primitive elements and retro tendencies on this album, but - and this is something I really like - Mongrel's Cross are not content with just two riffs and a solo in each song. In stead, they stuff more than a handful of riffs - some of which are decidedly old school and primitive - into each song, ensuring that their music is not only dark and evil, but also interesting. Some elements are derived from black metal, as heard in the tremolo-and-blastbeat sections in the beginnings of 'Rabid Inception', 'Indulge the Temple' and 'Revelations Transpire' and as passages in several other tracks. This black metal element pops up side by side with various stylings of traditional thrash metal riffage.

This in itself is enough to win me over, but the death blow is that Mongrel's Cross have decided to incorporate elements from crossover thrash and hardcore punk into their style, too, as heard in 'Hunters of the Born Again' (I don't think these guys like Christians very much) and 'Indulge the Temple', and this just gives the already aggressive music an extra energy kick.

The musicianship is impeccable, as Mongrel's Cross venture into territory that is more technical and complex than your average black thrash band would. These guys know exactly what they want to achieve with their music, and they succeed 100%. As mentioned earlier, the production is pretty good and not lo-fi at all, which I personally appreciate as it allows me to hear all the details of the guitar solos, for instance.

Fans of old school thrash metal with elements of black should definitely not miss out on this one. If you like Nocturnal Fear, Aura Noir, Nekromantheon and stuff like that, then you are very likely to also happily embrace Mongrel's Cross.