Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags felt like a step up from what came before in terms of complexity - and Coronach also feels like a similar upgrade, at least in terms of McBain's more progressive songwriting approach. The shorter songs that largely filled the band's early albums have been replaced with lengthier and more intricate compositions here - although with only eight songs and 44 minutes of music the album does not outstay its welcome. Kicking off with the powerful Hunderprest, a fast-paced and discordant riff, with chaotic drumming beneath it, opens the album - and the song is largely a fast-paced and thrashy track that channels the Hellripper core sound. McBain's vocals certainly channel plenty of black metal energy, with his throaty screams sounding primal, but he is perhaps more organic vocally than many black metal vocalists - and I do not find his vocals as grating as I often do in the genre. It helps, too, that McBain clearly has an ear for a strong melody. His take on black metal is very influenced by traditional metal, especially the NWOBHM, so it never feels like a hooky guitar lead or a more straightforward grooving section is too far away. Even some of the faster and more aggressive riffing here has more of a traditional approach - and this song features melodic guitar leads during the verses; a barked, punky chorus; a more intense instrumental mid-section with blast beats; and a back-and-forth guitar solo section which likely features McBain and Quinlan trading licks back and forth. Everything hangs together nicely, though, and a closing, more cinematic section with deeper vocals and more prominent synths shows some of the variety that this album has to offer. If anyone needed convincing of the NWOBHM's influence on Hellripper's music, then Kinchyle (Goatkraft and Granite) should leave them in no doubt. Whilst there are heavier moments here, including a pretty intense and noisy pre-chorus, the vast majority of the song is just a turbo-charged collection of NWOBHM riffs and attitude - with punky guitar leads and some snappy vocal lines. Despite his black metal edge, the vocal melodies here are fast-paced and traditional metal in their construction - whilst the chorus is filled with shouted gang vocals and some of the biggest hooks on the album. Discordant guitar chords often sit in the background to give the song an eerie feel, but the song's overall traditional metal base is evident from the off. The main riff has a real Diamond Head vibe, and the ever-present guitar leads bring the more melodic side of Angel Witch to mind. This sound has always been an influence on Hellripper, but this song perhaps showcases it the most to date - with the later harmony guitar soloing taken straight from Iron Maiden, whilst the occasional acoustic bridge sections showcase the more adventurous side of that time period. It is all wrapped up in a raw black metal cloak - but McBain is not really hiding his love of the 1980s too hard here. As if wanting to go for something more epic from the off, The Art of Resurrection opens with some haunting piano melodies which remind me a little of mid-period Opeth - before they started utilising keyboards in a big way and only included them occasionally. This intro is dense and melancholy, but the rest of the song is a bit more typical of the core Hellripper sound - albeit reined in somewhat. There is less of the pace of the opening two songs here, but there are still riffs which hark back to the 1980s - with NWOBHM grooves and some trilling guitar melodies forming a key riffy moment. The verses are a bit more discordant and stabbing, with a more intense beat, but the smoother chorus which follows makes use of keyboards in a more prominent manner again - alongside some more melodic guitar melodies beneath McBain's vocals.
Baobhan Sith (Waltz of the Damned) is one of the longer pieces here and it feels heavier compared to the previous song - opening with a riff that Trivium would likely be quite pleased with coming up with. Considering the black metal aesthetic of Hellripper, this opening riff is strangely un-spooky. The guitar's natural tone is largely allowed to shine through, and there is a bit of a metalcore vibe present briefly - before a thrashier pattern takes over and the core Hellripper vibe is re-established. A version of the opening riff does sit behind the verses, but by this point the coldness of the black metal aesthetic has returned - and there is a fitting raw buzz that sits above the fast-paced verses, whilst McBain delivers some machine gun vocal melodies. Unsurprisingly, given the song's length, there are a few twists and turns here. I really like the very brief acoustic interludes which sit between the verses and the chorus - and there are also other instrumental moments here which allow new riffs to surface and create strong grooves of their own. Some of these riffs mimic the overall vibe of the aforementioned Trivium-esque riff, which gives this song more of a technical feel overall, but there is enough of the band's core atmosphere to keep things on track in terms of a coherent sound. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Blakk Satanik Fvkkstorm returns to a more core blackened speed/thrash sound. It is the shortest song here, at just under four minutes - and it somewhat harks back to the band's earlier sound by going for a more intense black metal sound and pace. Thrashy riffing drives the song from the off, and there is an intenseness thanks to plenty of double bass drumming and buzzsaw guitar tones - but McBain's throaty vocals help to ground everything nicely. It helps, too, that the band's love of a big guitar melody remains here. Throughout the verses, screaming guitar leads are essentially ever-present. The guitar leads and soloing essentially never let up. This is the other song here, alongside the opening cut, to feature Quinlan - and it feels like him and McBain just let it all out here, throwing on guitar lead after guitar lead to make the snappy, thrashy song feel a bit more intense and fun. There is a big shredded solo later on to really capitalise on this approach - and the song is over quickly compared to many of the others here, but it remains satisfying. Sculptor's Cave follows in a somewhat similar vein, in so far as the song is quite fast-paced, but the somewhat more complex approach of much of the rest of the album is returned to. The opening guitar trills in the riff are instantly hooky, but the use of guitar leads is somewhat reduced overall here - with big riffing instead allowed to shine again. The main riff, like some of the others here, is allowed to shine a bit more thanks to a lack of that black metal buzz - even though it is present throughout much of the song. I like that the production allows for this more melodic and traditional approach at times - and it helps me to appreciate some of the riffing a bit more, as sometimes they can be a bit too buried under fuzz for my taste. Like many of the songs on this album, though, there is quite a bit of variety here. Not all of the songs here are long, but even many of the shorter ones seem to move through quite a few different vibes as things progress. There is a much slower and groovier bridge section during this song, which allows some slab-like riffing to shine - whilst there are also a few moments that strip the guitars away and allow the bass some brief time in the spotlight. There is another shredded guitar solo, too, just to balance out the relative lack of leads this time.
Mortercheyn opens slowly, with some distant guitar melodies fading in - but this slow-burning intro is pretty short lived. It would have been interesting to see the band go down a murkier route here, and deliver something almost ballad-like and haunting - but after a few seconds of the quieter guitar approach the band crash in proper and the song turns into another fast track. Parts of the this song may be the album's fastest moments, with McBain really pushing himself vocally and going for a real throat-shredding and high-octane approach, whereas other sections see Judas Priest-esque duelling guitar melodies break through the rawness to spread some brief moments of melodic cheer. This is balanced out by some discordant overtones during parts of the song. These sections really help the more melodic moments to shine - and there are also some strange sections later on where the volume drops quite considerably and some riffing is allowed to meander away briefly before the band crash back in. This happens a handful of times later on the piece, and it precedes a section which slows the pace overall to more of a strutting mid-pace - and the song is from this point on packed with groove and bluesy guitar melodies. The song is a bit chaotically structured, then, but I feel that everything just about hangs together - even if some of the transitions can be a bit jarring. The album then comes to a close with its title track - which is the longest song here at just under nine minutes long. It opens with McBain singing in a cleaner manner than usual. This is one of those moments that Hellripper occasionally do which feels somewhat folkier than the norm - with McBain's booming, cleaner vocals reminding me somewhat of the serious end of the European folk metal scene. The instrumentation behind these vocals is somewhat heavy, but there is a plaintive feel - which largely carries on throughout the whole song, even when it gets going proper. Much of the song is sung by McBain in his typical black metal-esque approach - but the cleaner vocals do resurface occasionally, especially during a chorus-like section which rears its head from time to time, and there are also sections which see him employing a much deeper death metal-esque growl. As such, there is quite a bit of vocal variety in the song, which works well given its overall length, and there is also variety throughout musically. There are quite a few mid-paced sections, which maintain that plaintive approach from the song's opening, but then there are grinding death metal sections - alongside more up-tempo sections which again recall the NWOBHM. The song's main solo sits on top of one of these somewhat galloping sections - and it feels exciting as a result. To build on this, later in the song another Iron Maiden-esque twin guitar lead is utilised and occasionally returned to - meaning that big chunks of this song are packed with old-school melody. The second half of the song really is guitar-fest, then, with soloing and harmony guitar sections coming thick and fast - and McBain really just went all out here, throwing riffs and leads at the song endlessly. The melodies act nicely as a hook, though, and this section is very memorable as a result. This lengthy and busy song, with plenty of twists and turns and big guitar moments, does really end the album on a high. There is a lot to like here, even for someone like me who struggles with black metal. There is enough black metal to give the album an edge, but overall the songwriting is generally rooted in thrash and traditional metal - with plenty of big guitar moments and shout-along choruses to draw me in. Hellripper continue to impress, then, and Coronach sees them pushing themselves further than before.
The album was released on 27th March 2026 via Century Media Records. Below is the band's promotional video for Kinchyle (Goatkraft and Granite).
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