The third chapter of Blackbraid is upon us! Blackbraid III (Self-Released ) has been released onto the world, continuing where the previous chapter ended. This installment in the series keeps all of the elements we have all come to love from Sgah’gahsowáh’s (Editor’s note: translated from Indigenous American for “The Witch Hawk”) solo project, with even more guitar leads to melt your face. A few ticks under an hour places Blackbraid III slightly shorter than its predecessor. It’s worth every minute, so keep that finger off the skip button.

“The Dying Death Of A Sacred Stag” is a great example of the guitar leads taking a step forward compared to the previous albums, as this song puts just about every element of Blackbraid into one song. Guitar leads, tremolo parts, and blastbeat passages, and riffs that will have you windmilling your hair (or lack thereof) around.

After the interlude track “The Earth Is Weeping”, we have Jon’s isolated vocals warming up his growl to start “God Of Black Blood”. The main riff in this track is evil, ominous, and also a level of badassery that is fitting for a final boss fight in a video game. His use of the flute in this song is perfectly placed as well to cut into the repetitive main riff. Might be my favorite track off Blackbraid III in its entirety.

“Tears Of The Dawn” is a hive of riffs that will have you returning to this track often, even with its longer run time of nine minutes and seventeen seconds. The intro riff alone feels like it was plucked right out of the second generation of Black Metal in Europe, and that is not a complaint. While the verse riff continues to pump into your ears, some leads pop in to keep you on your toes right before the song implodes into a mosh sequence that will get anyone at a live show moving around.

Incredibly, it was only three years ago that the first Blackbraid album took the music world by firestorm, and the gas pedal has not been lifted. Blackbraid III is both a fantastic continuation of the story of Blackbraid and a great place for new listeners to start and work backward. The most affirming point I can possibly make is that it is very difficult to decide which album I like best so far, but this latest release has called its shot.

Buy the album here:
https://blackbraid.us/

9 / 10
TIM LEDIN
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