Dracul’s Grasp is one of the latest outings of the illustrious figure of Darghul, who also goes under the name of Extinctionist and runs the Extinctionist Records label and has well over 20 active bands/projects. A lost of these acts are led solely by him, Dracul’s Grasp being one of those one-man vehicles. With ‘Thy Eternal Labyrinth’ he spawns his first demo for this particular Black Metal project.
Personally I first heard Dracul’s Grasp through the split tape with Chevallier Skrog that was released in September of this year. In the review for that split tape I mentioned a comparison with the bands from Les Légions Noires and Vlad Tepes more specifically. That is still pretty accurate for this demo, yet especially for the first half and the last track. The bleak and raw sound of the riffs do hint on those stripped down and down-right ugly, gritty French sound of bands like Vlad Tepes and Mütiilation. ‘Cursed By The Phantom Pain’ sound a little more beefed up and has a more solid punk-vibe, but when you get to that last track, ‘Spell Of Longing’, you get a mournful and dragging riff that reminds of the slower Mütiilation songs again. It is at these slower moments that Dracul’s Grasp sounds at its most dangerous and daunting, it has this really funereal and doleful atmosphere that sends you right to an never-ending labyrinth.
On ‘Thy Eternal Labyritnth’ Dracul’s Grasp offers that wild and abrasive Les Légions Noires sound but mixes it up with some really distressing, thought provoking misery. The demo was made available in 30 hand-numbered copies and is recommended to anyone with a penchant for well executed Raw Black Metal.
