Pontefractum Melancholicum    

Bloody Pomfret
Cvlminis 2013

Noisy and raw, Bloody Pomfret is the epitome of malevolence and is the new EP from the UK's unrelenting black metal misanthrope, Pontefractum Melancholicum.  With a hammering drum machine and thin guitar riffs, Slough is caught somewhere between the hellish noise of The Oath Of Black Blood era Beherit and Norway's industrial demons, Mysticum.  Satan Whispers is just as harsh and inhospitable with its minimalist, sawing riffs and fuzzed out production.  Doctor's vocals bring to mind comparisons to Hat on Gorgoroth's seminal album, Pentagram.  They are all thin shrieks and hateful rasps.  The track with the same name as the band is no less caustic.  The trebly guitars slice through you like a cold wind on naked flesh.  There is a truly frigid moment when the drums and vocals drop out to reveal a Nordic guitar riff in its solitary contemplation.  The guitars warble and flail with feral tones while the vocals cast a nocturnal pall across the title-track.  The cold wind sample that introduces Only Wolves fades only to reveal, freezing riffs that turn your blood to ice and then kick into some blasting black thrash.  The final track, Nostalgia, is singular, atmospheric guitar that weaves itself around the sound of freshly falling rain.  I love the amount of analog fuzz that permeates this recording.  You can hear the vinyl hiss and pop even though this is a CD.  The tracks are short and unpolished but shine with a flame of negative emotions and Satanic pride.  Bloody Pomfret is probably not an album I will listen to a lot, but it hits the core of cold, cruel black metal feeling that the aforementioned albums (Gorgoroth/Mysticum/Beherit) gleamed with.