Lake of Blood - "The Burial Ground Sessions" (2011) [Eternal Warfare Records]

Don your monocle and fill your pipe with the finest tobacco, for it is time for another chapter of The Inarguable's coverage of West Coast black metal powerhouse Lake of Blood. After their massive As Time And Tide Erodes Stone, released earlier this year, one would think these fellows would have taken some sort of break, but the new The Burial Ground Sessions cassette, out soon on Eternal Warfare records, shows no signs of stopping.

Recorded live at the Burial Ground house, home to the Woodsmoke collective, who gave us such bands as Leech, Munn, Merkstave, and many more, Lake of Blood presents two hefty, impressive rehearsal recordings on this 18-minute cassette. Delving into deep, melodic doom, blistering thrash, and, of course, their own memorable brand of melodic, epic black metal, The Burial Ground Sessions demonstrates a much more metallic, aggressive side to Lake of Blood; an indicator of things to come. As I said in my previous Lake of Blood review, their music is cold, enough to make my toes curl, and this demo is no exception. Lake of Blood juggle riffs like true professionals, devastating everything in their path. Of course, since this is a live recording, Lake of Blood's signature, prevalent acoustic guitars aren't there and the production is raw and filthy (which I do enjoy), but, fear not - these songs will be re-recorded and expanded upon for Lake of Blood's next album!

Personally, I love Lake of Blood. While they don't really do anything super new with the style of black metal found on the West Coast, they do imbue a sizable amount of cojones (hey guys, that's Spanish for balls!), which is alright by me. As far as the necessity of the release, I'd say if you are already a fan this would be a nice addition to your collection, but, overall, it's just a "demo" recorded in a pretty cool place. I dig it...and need to find the moolah to order this. Available later this month at Eternal Warfare or from Lake of Blood's BigCartel (someone should get me that Destroyer of Vices shirt!).

-Jon