The word 'vampire' has a lot of different connotations to a lot of different people. Some folks instantly think of kids not cool enough to be goths, inspired by a certain series of young-adult books and movies based on the books. Cerebral movie buffs will envision the classic image of Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula or maybe even Max Schreck's Nosferatu, actors in roles which put a real fear in the people of their time and place, not unlike what GRIM REAPER did in the 1980's. The nerds among us (this critic included) might think of names like Lord Harkon or Sebastian LaCroix or Vlad von Carstein.

The vampiric and metal communities alike have another name to bandy about, namely UNHOLY VAMPYRIC SLAUGHTER SECT, the one-man Black Metal band operated by the prolific and mononymic Kane. With more than a dozen releases in its name in barely five years, the latest offering, "The World Trapped In Vampyric Sway (Darker And Darker) ", is listed at the Metal Archives as their third full-length album, though it weighs in with five tracks at a bit over twenty-four minutes, nearly half the length of the previous full release, "The Power Of Unordained Light". But, like a proper DMT trip or Morty looking into the eyes of the Truth Tortoise, the sheer sonic intensity in those twenty-four minutes can feel like it will take a lifetime to overcome or forget.

About twenty seconds of spoken word introduces track one, "To Love Nothing But The Loss Of One's Enemy", which promptly dives into the 'raw Black Metal' with which they are labeled, but then there's a very Dubbish breakdown midway, adding a modernity that contrasts not just the beginning but also the song's back end. The listener has no time to recover as "Pummeled Flesh In The Mouth Of The Virgin" comes blasting in, before it too breaks in the middle with a sound like groaning steel beams and hard drums, and again picking back up before it ends.

The equation is changed on "Forced Genuflection On Adoring Gored Knees" with the breakdown occurring at the end, and not quite as low as it had been before. The album's longest track also has its longest title, "Lunar Intrusion Of The Crown Shaktra (Castration Of The Inferior Aura) ", whose middle breakdown actually brings the song to several halts, before hair-raising distorted vocals and a music box adds a distinctly creepy vibe to an album that truly earns it. As quickly as it draws down, it winds back up for the song's outro before that too breaks down.

The final track, "And I Shall Come To See Thee As An Iron Wolf", repeats what has been working so far, a hard rocking intro, a pause, and a creepifying break that's way scarier than those old Halloween spooky sound effects tapes, but this one ends the most heavily, played at the speed of a casket being lowered into the grave.

That's definitely not to say that this album deserves a burial. The opposite is true, as even if you must drag this album kicking and screaming into the light, that really is where it belongs. There's not a lot of wiggle room in the genre of raw Black Metal, and most new albums tend to sound like old albums. "The World Trapped In Vampyric Sway (Darker And Darker)" is an exception. There's an experimental nature within, but it blends in seamlessly, giving the album a sound as unique as it is contemporary.

The mercurial nature of music doesn't guarantee another second of UNHOLY VAMPYRIC SLAUGHTER SECT, even with a copious backlog and regular creative output, and as a one-man band it can easily be cast aside by the artist, but, momentum is momentum, and this album provides a lot of that. Any material forthcoming will have big shoes to fill and a fair bit of history to appease, but the talent is undoubtedly present to do it.