Review: RUNESPELL – Verses in Regicide

Year of release: 2021
Label: Iron Bonehead Records
Rating: 8,5 / 10

The amazing Australian Nightwolf realized the mistake made on the previous RUNESPELL album ... or not, but anyway he returned with triumph. Previous album was more like an EP, since half of the tracks on it were the same acoustic interlude. Not everything went smoothly with the latest full-length of BLOOD STRONGHOLD as well; the vocals were a little off. The musician's desire to diversify his work is quite understandable, but it turned out that Nightwolf invented the ideal formula back in the days of ETERNUM, and any deviations from it most likely will lead to a deterioration in the result.

On “Verses in Regicide” Nightwolf just did his thing. And I can only once again be amazed at how he manages to give out such a wonderful music again and again, working in an invariably tight framework. How many musicians do you know who, with dozens of large and small releases behind them, continue to add to their creative baggage every year, releasing magnificent works based exclusively on riffs over and over again? And so that all these works practically do not differ from the very first one? I don't remember anyone. There are forefathers like INCANTATION or CANNIBAL CORPSE, but even they changed their sound few times in history. Nightwolf doesn't need whistles and dings, he doesn't need producers and “development”. He has been playing literally the same thing for years, and it still great as always. This is not just a skill, this is genius.

For a description of "Verces of Regicide" you can refer to any of my previous reviews of RUNESPELL or BLOOD STRONGHOLD. As always, this is deep, melodic, atmospheric metal, breathing with the purity of the traditions of the white man (even if lyrically it gravitates towards images of death and the otherworldly). As always, you can listen to Nightwolf's guitar magic for hours. As always, you can (and want to) get lost in the foggy sound of the album. To be honest, on the one hand, I feel a little sorry for Nightwolf since he clearly does not receive attention from the listeners and the music media that he deserves. On the other hand, it is very gratifying that a person of such immense talent consciously chooses the underground, doing what he wants for himself, not for the profit. And fuck those music media, I would not want to see RUNESPELL next to some mediocre opportunistic fuckheads like UADA or IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT anyway. Creators like Nightwolf need to be appreciated and supported - remember that.