Howling - A Beast Conceived

Howling
A Beast Conceived
2013 Razorback Records
Right from the opening riff of "As Man Becomes Lycanthrope," you can tell that Howling is not like most death metal bands you've heard before.  It's a full on early "Metal Blade Records" type riff, more akin to something off an Omen album.  Get used to it, because there's a lot more where that came from, along with others that might well remind you of early Iron Maiden.  Definitely not your typical death metal fare.  I mean, check out the soloing that comes halfway through "Demented Debauchery."  When's the last time you heard something like that on a death metal album? The lineup here is 2/3 of the much missed Beyond Hell (well, missed by me at least), with Tony Proffer on guitars (and writing all the music) and Elektrokutioner on drums.  Handling the vocals and all lyrics is Vanessa Nocera (who while not as prolific as Elektrokutioner is well on her way to being there).  Lyrically, Vanessa takes all of her inspiration from late 70s and 1980s horror movies, with the earliest being "The Fog" and "Tourist Trap" from 1979, and the most recent as "Pumpkinhead" from 1988.  A whole gamut of ghoulish nasties is covered, from werewolves to murderous mothers to supernatural entities intent on gore and dismemberment.  Based off just the title, I was a little surprised that "When the Hills Ran Red" wasn't inspired by "The Hills Have Eyes," but there's always next time.  So yeah, this is cool little album of terror, although things aren't completely perfect.  "A Night in the Crypt" has a riff more suited to maybe newer Entombed, and "The Hills Ran Red" starts with something that sounds vaguely familiar... kind of reminds me of some black thrash album?  It'll probably come to me right after I publish this.