Wisconsin based Black Metal trio TUBAL CAIN has returned with their sophomore effort “Slime Abyss” and five years from their debut “Summon The Mist”. The band consists of married couple Kristine (drums / vocals) and Alex (guitars / vocals) Drake along with bassist Chrome Bones, who have been jamming out together since 2018. The band released their self-titled debut EP back in 2015 and has since released two full length albums and a number of EPs and singles. “Slime Abyss” consists of nine songs running just under 28 minutes which keeps things short and sweet. The title track ‘Slime Abyss’ gives a MOTÖRHEAD / IRON MAIDEN – ish vibe providing a Black’n’Roll style sound. It’s catchy, mid tempo-ed, and not drowned out by drums or a wall of guitars. The vocals are the typical Black Metal style with clarity in the lyrics. I really enjoyed this song and it was a great opener, especially the guitars. The song ‘The Winds Of Limbo’ is a guitar instrumental journey that gives SCORPIONS ‘Winds Of Change’ vibes mixed with a bit of DIO era BLACK SABBATH. Though short at 94 seconds it provides a nice ambiance. Things quickly pick up with ‘Drifting To The Black Sun’, this is one of the longest songs on the album at just over four minutes and feels, to me, that it would perfectly encompass the album if they had to choose one song to represent. The guitars are on point with some really good riffs, the drums bulldoze along with the vocals. ‘Tomb Of The Ancient King’, ‘Screams Of Crimson’ and ‘Ghost Tower’ also stood out with the former being one that I kept humming afterwards. This was my first crack at checking out TUBAL CAIN and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting some blistering fast Black Metal à la “Panzer Division” era MARDUK, but it was a nice change of pace to have a mid tempo album that focused on the songwriting and keeping things at a more nominal speed. Like I said previously, the songs are catchy and the production was on point. I didn’t feel that the band was overwhelming nor was it boring. The music reminded me of the early ’90s era second wave of Black Metal / Greek Hellenic Black Metal. I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a change of pace from the cookie cutter 500000 bpm Black Metal that seems to get cranked out weekly. This album does not disappoint, give it a shot. For more info: www.facebook.com/tubalcainmetal, www.facebook.com/darknessshallriseproductions