FLAME Ignis Spiritus [MCD]

Formed back in that fateful year of 1998 in Tampere Rock City by erstwhile members of Barathrum and
Urn, Finland's Flame soon took on a (fiery) life of its own. A couple demos burst forth from the void before
a split with the cult Devil Lee Rot in 2001; another demo came in 2004, followed the next year by a split
with Australia's late/great Ghastly. But it was Flame's debut album, Into the Age of Fire, where the band's
iron-fisted glory was fully revealed. Here, the band summoned forth triumphant epics of gnarliness that
were equal parts ancient blackthrash and just-as-ancient bestial metal, all at a time when both idioms were
far less fashionable than they are now. It would take six long years before another full-length torch was
revealed, but Flame's second album, aptly titled March Into Firelands, proved that the Finns' unholy
conflagration was as potent as ever: dynamic yet immediately headbanging, rooted in the old ways yet
never recreating anyone's past glories...but then, silence once again.
But like their foundational idioms, Flame are immortal, no matter when they choose to appear and raze the
scene. And raze they do with the five-song/24-minute mini-album Ignis Spiritus. A cursory read of a couple
song titles - "Primordial Storm," but especially "Force and Fire" and "Firespirit of Rebellion" - should spell
out in no uncertain terms that very little has changed in the Flame worldview, nor should it in the first
place. After the ominous mood-setting into, Ignis Spiritus ignites with same sulfurous passion with which
the band dominated the underground so many years ago, its hammering and HEAVY METAL attack still
threatening and dangerous even this many years away: simply put, Flame is eternal, and this mini-album
swiftly and satisfyingly proves as much...and then some! Divebombing solos at the fore and fire-tongued
throat of guitarist Blackvenom leading the charge, undeniably unholy and Alpha, Flame leave no room for
posers or fencesitters; you're either with them or you're gonna get burned. And this noble mission shall
remain steadfast should the band choose to take another nine years between records. Will you still be
there?
Feel this Flame and take this torch - Ignis Spiritus is the match to burn your life to the fucking ground!