Five years since their last offering And All Will Be Desolation, Kent’s Allfather have returned with A Violent Truth and are no less pissed off with the world. Adding in two years of a crippling pandemic and the subsequent desperation, uncertainty, world-is-fucked despair has just made them double-down on their signature bludgeoning sound, seamlessly combining elements of sludge, doom, black and thrash metal.
Opener ‘Poison Soil’ sets the scene for the rest of the album, stomping around like rhino with a bad headache, all thundering riffage and righteous, snarling vocals from Tom, before diving off into sublime thrash territory, accompanied by gloriously blistering solos. The aptly named ‘A False Peace’, slows things down a touch with some fine guitar textures and introspection, but is no less heavy for it, before launching straight into ‘The Hunt Infernal’, which for this listener is the standout track; part blackened thrash maelstrom, part-Mastodon complexity. Sadly, there are only six tracks on the album, the whole thing lasting around the 30-minute mark, but when you finish with the chugging ‘Cast Off the Cross’ you’ll be reaching for the ‘repeat’ button, guaranteed.
This is a seriously beefy, muscular affair, with Allfather melding various influences such as High on Fire, Electric Wizard and Clutch along with various bands from the golden era of thrash. You can feel every ounce of passion, energy, ire and ferocity that has gone into the album; with such a rich source of inspiration it’s not surprising and at the same time it’s inspiring to hear bands like Allfather addressing some the world’s big problems head on. Excitingly, A Violent Truth cements their reputation as one of the most fearsome bands in the current underground metal scene and to quote the band’s bio; ‘Beards. Metal. Fuck you’. Get on board – it’s a thrilling ride.
A Violent Truth is out on 31st March 2023, on Trepanation Recordings. Order here.
Words: Scott Crawford
