Recent Arrivals
Here’s a quick summary of some of the albums I’ve been checking out recently that I’ve either been too busy or too lazy to write full reviews for:
Celestia - Archaenae Perfectii2010, Apparitia Recordings
France’s Celestia returns with Archaenae Perfectii, the band’s newest full-length of depressive metal. Mainman Noktu owns the Drakkar label and is also associated with such quality French projects as Mortifera and Peste Noire, so it’s almost a letdown if his own project’s material isn’t completely top-notch. Archaenae Perfectii mixes the usual bleak depressive black stylings with some more uptempo passages, adding some aggression while staying firmly within the confines of the genre. Personally I’m starting to get a bit burnt out on depressive BM bands in general, so Celestia’s newest didn’t really do much for me, but Noktu’s songwriting talent is clear and Archaenae Perfectii is definitely worth checking out.
Purest - Renascence2008, Darker Than Black Records
Purest hails from Germany, unsurprisingly. A bit more surprising is that they aren’t overtly NS given their name, although a glance through their lyrics do reveal some not-so-well-hidden themes of extermination and superiority. Questionable subject matter aside, these guys actually kick a lot of ass musically, especially given that Renascence is their first album. Purest have a very polished black metal sound with a good deal of tempo variation and potent vocals. The German scene has been producing a seemingly endless torrent of excellent bands lately, and these guys are no exception.
Hat - The Demise of Mankind2009, Abyss Records
This is one of those situations where the band probably should’ve checked the the meaning of their band name in English before choosing it (it means ‘hate’ in the band’s native Norwegian, as you might have guessed). Like many Norwegian bands, Hat sticks to a fairly traditional black metal sound with sufficiently fuzzy production. The tremolo-picked, melancholic riffing is made much more frightening with the addition of drummer Undertrykker’s flesh-ripping vocal assault. The vocals unfortunately aren’t enough to save this album, but they do prevent The Demise of Mankind from being completely generic and uninteresting.
Triumfall - Antithesis of All Flesh2009, Forces of Satan Records
Triumfall hails from Serbia and plays a more symphonic style of black metal. Unfortunately, the poor production really hurts this album. Antithesis of All Flesh sounds fairly generic at times, but other times Triumfall mixes in some pretty good riffs and keyboard melodies, often playing the two instruments off each other very effectively. The problem is that the production makes it so difficult to hear what’s going on that the melodies get lost in the mix. Perhaps with another album or two Triumfall will iron out that issue, but in the meantime it’s hard to enjoy Antithesis of All Flesh, despite the band’s talent.
Askival - Eternity2009, Darker Than Black Records
I was very much looking forward to hearing this, Askival’s first and only album, as a result of the many glowing reviews it received since coming out last year. While Eternity didn’t quite live up to the expectations I had for it, it’s an album that should surely appeal to fans of black metal’s mellower side. The few scattered tracks of epic pagan metal are separated by acoustic folk melodies and ethereal ambient interludes, and Askival also mixes in clean singing, whispers, female vocals, and some background keyboards to ensure things never get boring. The actual metal on Eternity is never overly aggressive, but the glorious heathen melodies and pounding drums fit perfectly with the rest of the album.
Svierg - MMIX2009, Metalhit.com
The thing I find most amusing about this band is that it was started in part to crush a local “false black metal” band, as well as due to the general lack of support for black metal in Northern Virginia. It seems like there are a lot of easier ways to discredit and humiliate a local band than by starting your own better one. Fortunately, Svierg has enough talent to pull such a thing off. The four-song MMIX demo features a dark, Burzum-inspired sound that well-executed enough to sound like it originated somewhere in Europe rather than here in the US.
Thunderbolt - The Sons of the Darkness2008, Darker Than Black Records
This is actually a re-release of Thunderbolt’s first full-length from 2001. Much of The Sons of the Darkness consists of a fast, blasting blackened assault, but a few thrashy riffs randomly find their way into the songs, and Thunderbolt also mix in some well-placed acoustic passages. The production isn’t the greatest so during the more frenzied sections it’s sometimes hard to make out what the guitars are doing, but overall this is a pretty decent album of aggressive black metal.
July 19th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
I agree that Germany is a hotbed of black metal these days. The Zeitgeister camp, jeezus! And, yeah, it’s amazing Hat could get signed with that name.
July 21st, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Ah, short blast reviews, my favorite these days. Triumfall were totally generic, and Svierg are on my list.