Canadians Weapon could not have come up with a better name for their second album. The music on this offering is indeed From the Devil’s Tomb. Without resorting to endless blasts the Vetis Monarch crew wove the canvas both ominous and mysterious, proving adept at both skillful instrument playing and atmosphere creation.

With a marked improvement in production compared to the previous Drakonian Paradigm the dark spirits begin to rise from the beginning of the opening title track. From there on things get much more warped and convoluted. Weapon undoubtedly show that Riff is King, following the pathway of Morbid Angel both in complexity of the guitar work and the thematic evil slant. Without overproduction of Behemoth, or overt dedication to the Egyptian theme a la Nile, Weapon does take you on a journey through twisted catacombs given the guitar reverb in Vested in Surplice, and Violet Stole. Proving the Omen theory that many things evil and wicked indeed have mid-Eastern origin, Weapon borrows heavily from that well in The Inner Wolf and masterfully weaves in the sitar in the hit Sardonyx.

The album tends to be a time draw and takes your commitment to travel through all its labyrinthine passages. There is little simplicity or immediate catch and gratification factor in From the Devil’s Tomb. Trishul may have a more on-the-surface melodic chorus before bashing your head in with the bridge, but most of the songs will take several stepping up to the plate to fully grasp. The rhythmic nature of the album is not smashing, but the constant guitar weave affords little breathing room, so get your patience up. To that texture Vetis Monarch adds his quite monotone bark reminding at the same time of Celtic Frost arrogance and old black-and-white Akira Kurosawa Japanese movies when samurai are running around rainy villages gurgling words in their low register voices, especially when these words are in the unknown tongue (Furor Divinus).

Navigating the tortuous terrain between technical guitar-oriented oriental death metal, blackened satanic worship and a few faster thrash moments, Weapon has to be a highly sought out item for the fans of Absu and Melechesh. I can’t help but detect the same obscure mythological lines traversing these bands’ purpose in metal. Although I personally prefer proceedings more thundering and beastly (as in Valoton which I can’t seem to put away), the dark largely acoustic instrumental Lefthandpathyoga will convince you that Weapon has their veins full of shadowy melodies only the most accomplished musical worshippers of the Dark Lord can put forth.