Sev Lezu – Blood Conscript Review

Experience is a good thing, right? In the case of newcomers Sev Lezu, their collective experience in other bands is undoubtedly a good thing, as you can hear that learned knowledge across debut Blood Conscript. This all lady lineup starts with drummer/vocalist/lyricist Sasha Stroud (who just this year put out a whopper of an EP with Belexum), continues with guitarist Melissa Moore (Sonja, Crossspitter, ex-Absu), and finishes with bassist FW (Manat), and friends, they absolutely rip through these 21-plus minutes of fiery-but-frosty (and a little grindy) melodic black metal.

To get an idea of what Sev Lezu is up to here, imagine your favorite Dissection and Horna records and condense them. Squeeze everything into smaller packages (most of these songs are under three and a half minutes) and up the brutality with that touch of aforementioned grind. Blood Conscript is relentless in its attack: the riffs shift from more traditional black metal sounds to chunky thumpers; the drums rumble and blast all over the place; the vocals are gruff and irate but still charismatic; and the transitions are absolutely necksnapping. It’s a bursting-at-the-seams album if there ever has been one–don’t come to this one looking for relaxed moments or introspection.

Each song here is its own little self-contained journey of blackened brutality, and each has its own way of flattening you and leaving before you really know what hit you. “The Stillborn” gets things going (after an intro) with some serious melody for the verse but several passages of ruthless blasting, while “Corpse Step” similarly wrecks you with sudden transitions, this time between those early Finnish sounds and intense hammering. The title track and “Revenge,” meanwhile, feature plenty of riffs that ought to sound familiar to fans of Moore’s work with Absu (on the Abzu album); she brings the goods throughout, but those couple really hit. The beginning of “Revenge” is also the album’s one tease with something a little softer, but it’s all a deke, as a barrage of blasts soon flatten the listener.

There isn’t much more to say about the record other than the undeniable fact that it’s a little bit of a tease. Blood Conscript simply isn’t enough of this goodness, and soon after digesting this most listeners will be eagerly awaiting whatever Sev Lezu comes up with next. But what they’ve provided here deserves ample attention and appreciation. Sev Lezu pays homage to a wide variety of their heroes while making an album that bursts with a personality all their own. No matter what they do in the future (hopefully soon), Blood Conscript rips with enough murderous intent to have you listening on repeat for a good while.