Review: Black Lava – The Savage Winds of Wisdom

Style: progressive sludge metal, progressive death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Mastodon, Ne Obliviscaris, Alluvial
Country: Australia
Release date: 12 July 2024

I can’t believe three years have passed since Dan Presland left Ne Obliviscaris, and I’m sure this sentiment still haunts him in nearly every review for The Savage Winds of Wisdom. The fastest feet in Australia (so named because of his ridiculously precise and speedy blast beats), Presland left his day job as a train conductor to pursue a musical career with the Aussie prog death legends. Now, his focus is with new kids on the block, Black Lava, with their sophomore album The Savage Winds of Wisdom coming just two years after the project’s 2022 debut. Was Savage Winds worth leaving the single greatest band of all time?

In Black Lava, Presland shows off a new aspect of his drumming, no longer solely relying on the inhuman blast beat as a crutch, instead injecting groove, heft, and atmosphere with a performance ranging from a doom-y crawl all the way up to his classic blast beats. As the vertebrae of Black Lava, Presland’s drumming allows Ben Boyle (Vipassi) to lay down some meaty riffs on guitar somewhere in between death and sludge metal with occasional tendrils of blackened goodness coming through. Meeting him note for note in the punchy style is Nick Rackham (A Million Dead Birds Laughing, which also contains Presland and Boyle as members), who thuds away with a powerful low-end presence perfectly bridging Boyle and Presland. The instrumentalists are in tight union, be it the shifting song structure of opener “Colour of Death,” which ceaselessly builds up to a riffy climax, or the staccato beat of 2:00 into “Unsheathing Nightmares” where the band unleash head-banging material.

On the other hand, we have vocalist Rob Watkins, and I regret to say his sludgy barks ruin the album for me. The album’s main tone is heavy aggression, and inclusions of hazy atmosphere often drastically alter the dynamics; but Watkins has a monotone rasping shout with little range. The increased flexibility of a death metal vocalist who is strong with both high screams and low growls would make The Savage Winds of Wisdom a much more appealing listen, but the sludge-focused onslaught is, frankly, uninteresting, taking away from the subtleties of the band’s accompaniment. I misrepresented Watkins a little: in the atmospheric sections, he does change style from the barks into a gruff spoken word whisper-growl (see end of “Dark Legacy,” 3:30 in “Unsheathing Nightmares,” or really at slower parts in any track). While I appreciate the attempt at variety, I think these sections are cheesier than anything, not befitting of the serious, heavy nature of Black Lava’s death metal side and their musical gravity.

The Savage Winds of Wisdom is undoubtedly a big step up from Black Lava’s debut, Soul Furnace, showcasing more subtlety and a greater emphasis on songwriting. The three tracks over six minutes (“Colour of Death,” “Summoning Shadows,” and “The Savage Winds to Wisdom”) never stagnating on a riff and cycle through sections seamlessly, alternating between post-metal tinged atmospherics and grounded death metal. The highlights, though, are when both collide with a blackened heart near the track endings. The six shorter tracks all contain enjoyable performances and enough riffs to keep even my fellow Subway reviewers Cooper and Zach satiated for a few hours, but it’s the more progressive structuring that really shows off Black Lava’s improved vision and care for writing.

Despite my positivity and admiration for the artists behind the project, The Savage Winds of Wisdom still leaves a lot of potential for growth: more dynamic vocals would be chief among these potential improvements, but I think an increased focus on winding, progressive tracks would really show off these guys’ skill. Great riffs alone cannot make a great metal project—at least on a prog blog.

Recommended tracks: Colour of Death, Unsheathing Nightmares, The Savage Winds to Wisdom
You may also like: Horseburner, Mastiff, Absent in Body, Vipassi, A Million Dead Birds Laughing
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Season of Mist – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Black Lava is:
Dan Presland (drums)
Ben Boyle (guitar)
Nick Rackham (bass)
Rob Watkins (vocals)