Review by Saxy S for Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst (2021)

Some more black metal, this time from a group from Montreal, QC and playing into some of the more melodic traits of the genre, while still maintaining a high level of aggression and intensity throughout these six songs. And while I do find some of the melodies on this record to sound very nice, they don't vary too much from other songs throughout the rest of the album. Many of them maintain the same tempo, use the same tremolo picking patterns in the guitar (usually in the same octave as well), nonstop blast beat percussion and some solid vocals all around. Outside of a handful of moments, most notably on the closer "Diabolic Immanence", a lot of this record feels like comfortable melodic death metal; good melodic death metal mind you, just very pedestrian. I get the same feeling whenever I listen to a Mgła album. Take that for what it's worth.