White Medal - (2008) ST 7''

This vinyl EP was the first release from Yorkshire-based black metal band White Medal.
Side A contains ‘Chance’ (subtitled ‘Rebirth’) , which opens with a soft melodic guitar and bass intro, which is rapidly obliterated by blasting, ferocious riffing, hyper-distorted and compressed to the point where the drums are a muffled thudding, overlaid with a frenzied blur of guitar, and vicious screamed vocals melding with ambient keyboard drones into a whipping vortex of oblivion. There’s a melodic subtext just about barely discernible here, but you need to be listening out for it. To some extent, I was reminded of the English band Instinct, who deploy a similar blend of aggression and melody, but White Medal’s most obvious affinity is to black metal primitivists like Ildjarn, Beherit, Svartpest and Bone Awl.
Side B is ‘Northern Mist’ (subtitled ‘Raven's Dusk’), with a harsh cawing of ravens heard above the buzzsaw guitar at the outset, before the song develops into a similar entropic surge as ‘Chance’, with the vocals a shredded howl and the drums thoroughly buried, although there seems to be a metronome or click track audible at points. A couple of times, there’s a melodic hiatus before the riff surges back in like a riptide.