Loosely meaning ‘The Wild Hunt’ from Norwegian lore, it is the band name that got me to check out the promo for the third album from this Californian, not Norwegian duo, as well as that kickass stained glass dragon on the cover.

Further digging revealed that this used to be a one-man project with Jay Valena, who served some time in the international folk metal conglomerate, Folkearth, back in the day. For this release, he is joined by guitarist Rashid Nadjib.

Hollow Fangs is 5 lengthy songs covering 41 minutes, and is pretty solid atmospheric/melodic black metal. I can’t quite put my finger on who they remind me of, although they certainly fall into that Wolves in the Throne Room, Agalloch, Deafheaven, Alda,  and more recently A Flock Called Murder ballpark. However, not fully, as they are less atmospheric and don’t do quite as much build-up, interludes, or acoustics, as they pretty well focus on more blistering, but still melodic riffs. 

And the riffs, as I said earlier, are familiar but also a bit unique, which is a credit to the duo. But certainly, as I heard them and was trying to identify a comparison (I know, it’s my reviewing crutch), I found myself genuinely enjoying many of them. For example, opener “Prismatic Reason” has an array and variety of really good riffs from start to finish.

“Bernalillo Sunrise” has a tough act to follow and is a little more direct and purely Scandinavian-style black metal, as is the more teeth-bearing riff that arises in “Psychotischism”, even though it hs a more moody back end.

Another one of those enjoyable melodic but hard to nail down riffs starts “Fragments”, especially with its shrill, jangly mid-section (Liturgy?) before closer “To Kiss The Viper’s Fang” gets off to a pretty vicious start. It does have one of the album’s rare, longer acoustic/atmospheric moments, but it ends the album on a nice, relaxed note. 

[Visit the band's website]

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