Under Reprisal

Hamilton, Ontario's Threat Signal are something of a rarity in the increasingly overcrowded field of Scandinavian-style black metal, and it's due entirely to one key factor: singer Jon Howard just plain ****in' rocks. Unlike most of yer more melodically oriented death metal bands, which usually have one of the guitarists providing clean vocals in counterpoint to the lead screamer's shredded larynx bellow, Howard handles both styles on Under Reprisal, and while his clean vocals are perfectly good, it's his screaming that really pins the listener's ears back. (To put it in strictly Canadian terms, he really knows how to give 'er.)