King’s Hammer “To Speak in Tongues” album review
Written By Kevin McSweeney
King’s Hammer is a death metal solo project by Chuck Weatherman, guitarist and vocalist of Virginia thrashers Shovelhead A.D. The project’s debut release, To Speak in Tongues, is available from June 13th, courtesy of both Rottweiler Records and Broken Curfew Records. It’s a solo project in the truest sense, as Weatherman has handled pretty much everything on this EP. Hell, he might even have painted the excellent cover art, which depicts a cathedral engulfed in flames and eerie mist emanating from the head of a hapless worshipper. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Though ostensibly death metal, the sound occasionally ventures into groove metal, particularly on The War in Heavenand Wrath Descends. The slick, bluesy riffing on the verse of the former makes it resemble something from Pantera’s The Great Southern Trendkill, only with more extreme vocals, whereas the occasional staccato interludes bring to mind Far Beyond Driven. The latter sounds more like Lamb of God, with the addition of some Cannibal Corpse-style trills as an embellishment to the riffing.
The first single, Vehement Zeal, takes us firmly into the realms of traditional death metal, with it’s blast beats and buzzsaw riffs, though it occasionally creeps into doom metal territory, sounding uncannily like early My Dying Bride (minus the violins). I’m thinking specifically of their sound on The Thrash of Naked Limbs. The rawness of the production is a major contributing factor to this. It almost gives it the sound of a demo, albeit one that is balanced extremely well. It’s reminiscent of a lot of the death metal coming out in the early 90s in that regard, which has me feeling nostalgic! Indeed, Crusade XI has strong Obituary vibes, sounding not unlike something from The End Complete with its rudimentary riffing, slow, headbang-friendly double-kick rolls and – how do I put this? – plenty of bleurgh!
The arrival of the closing track, Witches Bvrn, is heralded by four hefty thuds, before it springs into action with a staccato riff suggestive of heavy machinery before once again evoking the aforementioned Floridian legends with speedy drums and vintage death metal riffs. At times, it settles into a Lamb of God groove and is drawn to a close with a slow chug that seems to have just about finished off the china cymbal.
All in all, it’s a promising debut from King’s Hammer, made all the more impressive that all vocals and instruments are performed by Weatherman alone. I can’t help wondering why all of his musical ventures have tools in their names, but this is a fine addition to the shed nonetheless.
Purchase To Speak in Tongues Here
Metal Lair rates “To Speak in Tongues” 4 out of 5 metal horns
Tracklisting:
The War in Heaven (03:35)
Vehement Zeal (03:16)
Wrath Descends (02:36)
Crusade IX (03:41)
Witches Bvrn (03:15)
Kings Hammer Online