It’s been a lengthy day, so let me serve you a quicky and then hit the pillow. I came across this band from Western Kentucky some time ago, called Voyage of Slaves. Their Facebook page describes their music as ”Blackened Viking Zombie Thrash / Death Metal”, ”Death / Thrash Metal with a lemony, blackened twist” and “Old-school Death / Thrash Viking Zombie Metal”. I don’t claim to have listened to their full repertoire, but might I add that there’s a hint of Pirate Metal in there somewhere as well?

I’m fuckin’ about of course, but eventually the band does make a point: there are lots of styles and influences on display here. It’s Metal that’s both raw and unpolished, melodic, pounding and epic in the Folky sort of way. But there are also flat-out Black Metal patterns on occasion that scrape the skin of your back. All in all, nothing that the average Metalhead wouldn’t be appreciative off.

I found a great load of (poor quality) live recordings online, but thankfully also this studio recording of a 2009 demo track called Inferi by the Masses. It’s quite old and I know the band is working on some material as we speak, but in terms of proper quality (it’s still a bit raw, but at least it’s free of feedback, blurs and screeches) it’s the only thing I could find.

Voyage of Slaves is four dudes: Dean Dokken (guitars and lead ”vokills”, so far I’ve found no evidence of him being the son of Don Dokken or not), John ”Stonehenge” Fronza (”low-end bend”), Sir David Palenske (guitars, ”back-up beltch”) and Fuck Yeah Jon Grace (”mammoth skins”). Clearly they do not lack imagination.

Tags: American, black, death, folk, melodic, thrash

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