Stormcrow – “Enslaved In Darkness” [EP]

Stormcrow are a now defunct crust/metal band from Oakland whose sole album, Enslaved in Darkness, was recently released by Selfmadegod records. The EP is pretty damn good with some heavy, thrashy tunes that make you want to hit the repeat button over and over. While the production is pretty muddy and the vocals are pushed back in the mix a bit too far, the thing is that this type of sound suits this style of music, and actually enhances, instead of detracts from it. A little bit more polish would have ruined the whole thing.

As for the songs themselves, if you couldn’t tell from the above, I personally thought that they were rippers. Personal highlights for me are “Anguished Existence” and “Baleful Conception”, the latter of which starts off with a slow, crushing riff and then settles into a more mid-paced groove with shredding vocals. The album is fairly short at only 5 songs, but seriously this thing is so damn good you just need to find the album as soon as you can and listen to it.

Track Listing:

01. Enslaved In Darkness
02. Anguished Existence
03. Baleful Conception
04. Willing to Forgive
05. New Messiah

Run Time: 27:35
Release Date: January 7, 2012

Check out the song: “Enslaved In Darkness”