White Death - Iconoclast (2023)

Closing 2023 with a fierce and punishing Black Metal release, today we have Finland’s White Death and their scorcher album “Iconoclast”. Six years or so in the making, this release unleashes 48 minutes of frosty old-school Finnish Black Metal. Filled with piercing vocals, ravaging riffs, and an overall all-out-war vibe, this release is definitely one of the best in the genre.

Blasting away with the raw power of “Born from the Unholy Fire (Part II)”, vocalist Vritrahn delivers some of the most savage and punishing harsh vocals in the business. The vocals are greatly complemented by crafty guitars that weave between pummeling aggressive passages to more engaging and melodic territories, as songs like “Iconoclast” and “Sumum Bestiae” showcase. For those of us fans of Finnish Black Metal like Horna, Satanic Warmaster, etc., this band is sweet, sweet music to our ears.

Perfectly creating some hypnotic headbanging passages, “Aal Apam Li Aamnuk” and “Phosphorus” are a bit more restrained than hyper aggressive tracks like “Strife for Blood” and “To Die a Thousand Times”. The later of these tracks also oozes in that old-school vibe, thanks to some buzz-raw like guitars and punk-ish drumming.

Overall, “Iconoclast” is a release that has a very well defined balance between melody, aggression, dynamis, and old-schoolness to its music. White Death has managed to deliver on the expectation of this release being awesome, and at the same time sers a higher bar for the future. This album is highly recommended for fans of the genre that are ready to close off a year of excellent releases with one more addition to their collection.

Label: Werewolf Records

Release: December 29th, 2023

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Finland