Band: TRISTWOOD
Country: Austria
Title: Blackcrowned Majesty
Label: Visionaire Productions
Year: 2020
Style: Industrial Black Death Grind

Review:
Holy shit man, from a band with this name you'd expect some sort of Gothic Doom Metal or even Melodic Black Metal, so what the band offers on this fifth album of theirs (but my first encounter with their music) was a total surprise. Tristwood are absolute beasts in writing and delivering avantgarde Metal at the highest degree of originality, or at least that's my impression: I haven't heard a combination of Metal sub-genres like they do, and besides that I haven't heard it delivered with such a production that at first glance seems way too abrasive and martial (or even blunt for that matter), way too rough for this day and age, but maybe exactly that's their edge, to sound like a sci-fi band from the early '90's playing a vile, disgusting, totally alien music. Blending Industrial Black Metal with Swedish-like Death Metal with Grindcore and Synthwave is not something for the narrow-minded for sure, but to tell you the truth, despite that and the abrasive production, the band delivers a ton of hooks and catchy grooves sprinkled all over this album that it might appeal to a wider audience than they might think. It's impressive how this album can sound so massive and oppressive and at the same time so demo-like close to the listener; although at first I was puzzled about the production, my suggestion for the band would be to keep it that way, a more polished recording would lead to sterilizing their music. Check out their Bandcamp page for an introduction directly from the band to this new album of theirs, from the cover concept, to the lyrics, to the actions that led to the end result.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10

Contact:
tristwoodofficial.bandcamp.com