Few things can ever truly compare to when a new name comes around and throws down a work that manages to be both refreshing and precisely what many of us are looking for in the given style. Metal has been no stranger to fresh acts rising out of the nothingness to deliver unto us surprising works that are overflowing with great promise and intrigue from virtually all angles, and it continues to deliver to this day. Scouring the depths of Bandcamp can yield some great finds, and it’s today that in coming across the debut from Claymore that I’m reminded of the thrill of the hunt for something new yet again.
When presented with a work such as this, it must be made clear that it’s not terribly often that we’re granted visions that feel super fresh or turn the given sound on its head in some form or another. Rather, it tends to be the case that less is a hell of a lot more with there still being plenty of musicians out there that can throw something down well within a sound that they clearly revere with glory but a few notes away. Seemingly for all intents and purposes, the rise of Claymore (not to be confused with the other nine bands of the same name according to the Metal Archives (this is the UK edition)) demonstrates a passionate love and deep understanding for the calculated heaviness of everything that they were going for. It would be an insult to say that “Houndskull” didn’t deliver. This is an exceedingly thick record that makes no reservations in going all the way to ensure that the listener is not just pummeled into an earth with naught but a crater to mark their grave, but an early testament as to the power that Claymore already boasts. The very earth cracks open at the very might of all that “Houndskull” brings to the table without any room for survivors nor so much as an opportunity missed. This is doom laced with the nastiest of sludge, enabling the record to be frenetic and manic in nature yet never once losing an ounce of its power in that madness.
Claymore’s fuzzed-wreathed heaviness is precisely the kind of excellence that one could ask for from the very floor of the underground. It’s in the unrefined nature of this massive entrance that already sets Claymore apart from much of the competition to make “Houndskull” not just an interesting first step in the right direction, but an excursion of intensity that keeps you coming back for more.
LISTEN to “Houndskull” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Claymore on Facebook here.
FOLLOW Claymore on Instagram here.