Earthling-Dark Path

Forcefield
2013

 
After releasing two demos and a split split 7" with Valkyrie (guitarist Alan Fary actually plays in both Valkyrie and Earthling) we are now looking at a full-length debut album in the form of "Dark Path". Calling Virginia home the band, which first came together in early 2009, started out as a project by Alan Fary (guitar/vocals) and Brently Hilliard (drums). Soon enough the project turned into a full-on band and the Harrisonburg natives would find a solid lineup with the addition of Praveen Chhetri (guitar) and Jordan Brunk (bass). Recorded by Garret Morris (Windhand, Cough, Parasytic, Bastard Sapling) and mastered by Mikey Allred (Inter Arma, Hellbender, Across Tundras) this six-track release runs a little over 30 minutes, but that's more then enough time for this group to shake things up and get down. And down they do go towards a doom-encrusted hell inhabited by a race of Slayer-worshiping demons who live and die on all things blackened thrash! Earthling takes the left hand path as they move forward and down inhaling the smoke of the bands Death and Possessed while chipping away at the crusty outer edges of  early Venom and Cronos' idea of black metal. Earthling's debut-album doesn't exactly hide it's influences and it can't be called brilliant release, but seeing as it is blinding when it comes to the band's obvious love for what they're doing there's no way I could ever complain about how real they are! At the end of the day "Dark Path" is the result of a young band doing their own thing and not giving a crap about how it's perceived. Somewhere down the road we'll hopefully see Earthling emerge as a legitimate band to be reckoned with, but for now "Dark Path" is worth the investment and attention as it's a raw and rampaging collection of home-grown metal tunes from a home-grown group of fanatic metal musicians.