Spanish Black Metallers PESTKRAFT are back with their third malevolent creation, the full-length “Ancestral Sounds”, released by the German label Folter Records. I must admit that I feel tied to the “traditional” Black Metal sound and that I’m very hard to please when it comes to this genre, but “Ancestral Sounds” is an absolute beauty. Preserving their characteristic vibe, PESTKRAFT has been able to conceive an album with so many different transitions, taking you around a vast zone of feelings and sensations. The album initiates with ‘Memento Mori’, a song with a very warm classical piano intro that soon becomes the first warning of the upcoming chaos. If you jump to songs like ‘Lost Soul’ , ‘Altar Of The Dead’ or ‘La Plegaria Del Féretro’ (sung in Spanish), you will identify the wide range of the band in terms of composition. Song by song you are taken to the infernal regions of anguish and pain. This is not a linear album at all. Here you still can recognize sparks of MAYHEM, IMMORTAL, DØDHEIMSGARD, Ψ.Χ. and obviously DARKENED NOCTURN SLAUGHTERCULT among other bands. Evidently Onielar has been a huge influence on Blodig. I feel that along with the obscure atmosphere and the sound of the band, the vocal duties performed by Blodig are crucial to the definition of the band. Blodig sings bathed in anguish and pain. It gives them their sound and style and it’s what I like the most of PESTKRAFT. Because even when the influences are out there and are clear, PESTKRAFT works their own semblance. The band has been around since 2016 spreading their plague and released “Litanies Of The Plague”, their first full-length in 2018 and also the “Pest” EP from 2016, their first piece of art. In summary, “Ancestral Sounds” is for sure one of my favorites Black Metal albums from 2024 so far. More about PESTKRAFT: www.facebook.com/pestkraft. Label contact: www.facebook.com/folterrecordsgermany