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These lads are riding for revenge or so it sounds. Black Metal from New Zealand always makes your horse raise his head on alert, doesn't it? This Black Metal horde, known as Bulletbelt, has released their second full-length studio album, Rise of the Banshee, featuring eight songs that get under the listener's skin straight away.

The biggest change for Bulletbelt is Jolene Tempest, who sang additional vocal parts on Bulletbelt's debut album, Down in the Cold of the Grave, has taken over the main vocal role, replacing Fergus Nelson-Moores who departed from the band back in 2013. Bulletbelt made the right choice as Jolene has done a convincing job with her vocal lines on the band's follow-up record. She sounds like an ominous lil' demon coming to get you.

Bulletbelt's songwriting on Rise of the Banshee is sharp and the band seems driven to create something worth listening to. They have succeeded in putting together the kind of album that gives you reason to return to it over and over. It's an early 90's melodic Swedish Black Metal vibe that is strongly present on this album, which is a great thing of course (I still remember all those melodic Swedish Black Metal bands on such defunct labels as Black Sun Records and No Fashion Records). Bulletbelt comes in like the four horsemen of the apocalypse kicking down all doors in front of them on Rise of the Banshee and they do it in a scarily convincing way. Expect nothing else but fire and brimstone as far as the songs on this record are concerned.

Bulletbelt is yet another fine Metal act coming from New Zealand, one we need to keep our eyes on in the future.