Azaghal's Of Beasts and Vultures may not be a new album, in fact it has just been re-released by Moribund Records, but the album is seminal enough to review as an archive plus at the time of holidays, when the time for listening is scarce, reaching out for something familiar is pretty natural.

Azaghal on Of Beasts and Vultures is an interesting mixture. Not a wholesale explosion of Finnish bestial filth, the album is a crossover between something definitively Finnish, but also relying on first wave of Scandinavian black metal, Gorgoroth coming to mind. Not necessarily frozen cold or cutting through the bones, Of Beasts and Vultures, on its blackiest metal tracks anyway, is still dark, distant, mysterious and brutal, just like that wolf (or is it werewolf) depicted on the cover. Triumphant riffs and blasting of Helwettilainen, slightly slower brutality of Welho, first half of Peto 666, mostly breakneck Mina Olen Tie is as black metal as it gets. So is red meat statement Kaikki elava kuihtuu (Tsjuder fans would love it), but that is the essence of Azaghal on Of Beasts and Vultures, Narqath the main man behind the band is not afraid of experimenting ending Kaikki elava kuihtuu with dark acoustic and whirling solos. Welho also brings out Wyrd celestial atmospherics and opener Helwettilainen has room for mid pace acoustic darkness as well. All of this variety further manifests itself with howling ominous title track interlude, havoc to horror experiment Verenjano or black’n’roll Khold precursor Reign.

So where Of Beasts and Vultures may not pass the purity test, it specifically aims not to. Bathory cover 13 Candles (for super fans only, not my favorite Bathory track), and samples & sounds on the closer hidden track may have been omitted to make for even more succinct and impactful passage. If you missed Of Beasts and Vultures at the time of its release time to catch up is now.