The year was 2005 when Craven Idol was founded in London. After two demos and an EP, the band released their first full-length album in 2013 entitled “Towards Eschaton”. This was followed by “The Shackles Of Mammon” (2017) and this is their third complete work with the very nice cover art from Eliran Kantor.
The music of this album is quite clear from the beginning. Black/thrash metal that does not seem to want any compromise at all. Pedal to the metal with very fast drumming, the guitars spit one razor-like riff after another and the singer tortures his vocal cords as much as possible, throwing at times some epic screams before strong explosions of speed and aggression.
And when you think that “Forked Tongues” has the same pattern, the last two tracks “Deify The Stormgod” and “The Gods Have Left Us For Dead” will make you think again. Each one lasts a little over nine minutes when the first five all reach twenty-two. So here we hear a band that puts other elements in its sound.
There is no huge difference of course, the base remains the same as I described above, but there are some mid-tempo parts, atmospheric breaks, clean vocals in the style of chanting as well as a different guitar mentality with more melody and technique. One could say that these two show a more progressive approach of the band.
In summary, the Londoners made an enjoyable black/thrash metal album. The raw aggression at the beginning combined with the change of approach at the end worked very well in the final result and helped “Forked Tongues” not to sound the same from beginning to end. Very nice release. Time to check out the rest of their discography.
