United States black metal takes on all kind of forms, from the atmospheric rituals carried on by the Pacific Northwest to the creative and chaotic fury from NYC to the thunderous and dexterous strangeness of the West Coast bands. It’s an interesting way to show how sounds develop in each area from their collected influences.

Tennessee black metal force Vile Haint have dressed their style with Southern gothic flourishes and the haunting mythology intertwined. On their spellbinding new EP “Abound With Malice,” the band—vocalist/guitarist Ryan Clackner, keyboardist Edward Longo, drummer Zac Ormerod—smears your senses with local lore and strange, disarming tales that have browned around the edges from the ages. These six songs dig into your psyche and blisters through cobwebs and haunted fields, knifing toward you with psychosis and a punishing devastation.

“Blessed Unholy Name” starts as an orchestral march, scuffed with noise, feeling properly haunted, and that intro takes us into “All the Shades of Red (Powdered Bones)” that’s a healthy blast of doomy black metal. Howls swirl as miasmal melodies grow into a spiral, warped and ashy playing driving across the land. Strange keys make your head feel strange as the guitars continue their assault, storming through melodic lather. The fury blinds as you’re whipping into hypnotic anxiety that burns off toward space. “The Night Becomes Moonless” is spooky and blistering, howls crushing as the guitars stymie, the playing growing more restless. Scorching melodies bubble as the guitars leg tackle you to the ground, pushing you into the dirt. “O’ Malign Star, the Lament” drives through furious wails and mesmerizing playing, the guitars catching fire and letting smoke spread liberally. A dreamy gaze surfaces behind the building power, the guitars chime, and full electrification fries your cells. “The Hills Been Set Ablaze” attacks right away, dragging you into sooty hell, drubbing as the screams lather. There’s a claustrophobic attack that makes it feel like you’re struggling through a tunnel, echoing and choking, finally releasing its hold as colorful melodies flourish. “Mud Plains and Wrought Iron” is a quick, swampy, psychedelic outro piece that squeezes your temples and lets you swim in eerie waters until your mentally can take no more.

“Abound With Malice” is a fitting check-in with Vile Haint who would seem due for a new full-length but offered up this thunderous appetizer instead. The music remains devastating and ashen, but its personality is unlike a lot of U.S. black metal in that it feels delivered by ghouls stuck between worlds. If this is your first foray into Vile Haint, prepare to be disarmed and disoriented.

For more on the band, go here: https://vilehaint.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://vilehaint.bandcamp.com/album/abound-with-malice

For more on the label, go here: https://moonlightcypressarchetypes.bandcamp.com/