It feels as though in recent times that melodic death metal has started to make a turn to a much more… flamboyant sound that’s incredibly colorful and leaving the death metal primarily in the vocals. I’m no stranger to it with acts like Countless Skies and Aephanemer still getting my immense approval, but it’s been far too long since I’ve heard some solid death metal that’s just melodic. No fanciness or over the top sound to set the band apart, and it’s with immense power that Ravenpath has delivered just that with their brand new album.

Listening to this record really felt like a solid return to form in a way for me as it’s with Amon Amarth that I got my first proper taste of melo-death in all of its glory, and it’s only after dabbling in the style for several years as I’ve seen acts that range from the hordes from Gothenburg to the two previously mentioned. That’s not to say that I’m trying to call Ravenpath the best of their kind that I’ve heard in years, but it’s been too long since we’ve gotten some proper melodic death metal with just as much power, devious rhythms, and an uncompromising attitude that is all but intoxicating. There are very few moments throughout the madness of “The Raven’s Wisdom” that aren’t immensely satisfying as Ravenpath does everything in their power to make this record a compelling work that has just as much ferocity as it does quality, and they did a bang-up job of that from top to bottom. We get plenty of variety throughout this record that all still manages to feel like some proper and mean death metal that has that melodic edge to it that’s almost always deadly, and it’s each track that tweaks its predecessor just a little to refresh the mind before pummelling you to dust yet again. Ravenpath manages to accomplish the feat of keeping their sound essentially the same for the entirety of “The Raven’s Wisdom”, but it’s through expert timing and deadly accuracy that this band manages to impress over and over to make for an album that, while still has some time to go before it could be called staggering, hints at excellence that few others have been able to demonstrate with such potency.

A halfway decent melodic death metal band is a dime a dozen nowadays as sometimes it feels like the real flavor that many people want to get in on to eat as much as they possibly can before simply getting bored with it. But then there are acts like this that make for a treat that simply can’t be heard once and something that’s sure to make Ravenpath a name to know in the underground as, surely, “The Raven’s Wisdom” is simply the beginning.

LISTEN to “The Raven’s Wisdom” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Ravenpath on Facebook here.