Right off the bat the Swiss black avant-gardists Blutmond pique your interest with an ingenious and imaginative newspaper-style info sheet that accompanies the release of their third full-length album, not to mention the provocative artwork created by 10XIXt.
Musically, this is quite provocative too - Marc’s romantic saxophone is beautifully blended with the aggressive vocals of both John and Jerry, Dave’s tight drums and Sin-Marlon’s melodic guitar riffs.
Blutmond experiments with their sound and give us a weird album, where emotion, hate and anger are carefully and successfully mixed together. Unconventional and non-traditional, the sound of Blutmond gives a new meaning to the concept of avant-garde black metal, borrowing features from post-rock, electronic, jazz, progressive and black scene. The ‘punky’ vocals aim directly at your face, when the guitars and the keyboards try in some parts to calm down the listener, who constantly feels under pressure and slightly confused. Undoubtedly Blutmond has pushed further the limits of avant-garde with this album that lyrically deals with the reluctance of humans to fight the mass culture that has entered our lives by force. [8]
A journey through the cold endless landscapes of Iceland would be enough to describe the second full-length album of the two-member band from Reykjavik. Absolutely dark, depressive and emotionally aggressive, the sequel of 'Dynfari' will excite the fans of Myrk, Wolves in the Throne Room and Austere, since it touches the limits of SDBM. Death, loss, pain and hope are the main lyrical themes of this band that screams "Pull me under!". From the opening song “Glötun” till the closing track “Svartir Himnar”, Dynfari pull slowly and effortlessly the listener to a placebo-state of unconsciousness, to a hopeless world of despair and desolation. Through the music that captures the ear and the mind, the band expresses its deeper and internal feelings which are imposed on the listener throughout the whole album. Despite its length, the band succeeds in keeping undiminished the attention of the listener through its careful work and the well-written material, although the band was formed only two years ago.
The old school Norwegian-style guitars and the heavy percussion of Emil, along with the desperate growling vocals of Őrn, although used sparingly and carefully, as well as the doomy tempos at some points of the album mixed with folk and progressive passages, promise a fall to one’s inner state of dark feelings, where no one can be saved. Undoubtedly the pure atmospheric / post-black metal at its best from a band that respects this genre, itself and its fans. Just let the experience begin…
Rating: 8/10 (Only because I believe the band is very promising and has more to give us)
Greece
has to exhibit many interesting and notable metal and especially
black metal bands. Aenaon
is one of these bands, that succeeded in surprising us with is debut
full-length album 'Cendres et Sang'.
Even from the first song, the jazz elements make the album special,
while the saxophone continues to travel our emotions and imagination,
as along with the percussion make the jazz / metal fusion in the
second song, before one realizes that it is about a melodic black
metal song, with some death metal vocals. The jazzy sound reminds of
Den Saakaldte,
while the influences of Shining
and Satyricon
are obvious. Varying between jazz, melody, black metal and metalcore,
the band wouldn't bore you at all. The frequent changes in the
tempo, the flawless passage from brutal death/black metal vocals into
clean vocals, the progressive percussions along with the metalcore
riffs of the attacking guitars and the avantgarde black metal
elements compose a unique sound, which is excellent in terms of
compositions and aesthetics. The big surprise was the impressive last
song of the album, "In Heaven", where the piano at the
intro followed by female choir vocals ends up to a mix of emotion,
black metal vocals and melodic solos, being atmospheric, melodic and
aggressive at the same time. It should be mentioned that this song is
a cover of the Eraserhead’s soundtrack by David Lynch. The outro
that Aenaon
decided to use could not be other, in order to close a cycle of
melody, suffocation, atmosphere, rage and emotion, expressed via the
dark and melancholic lyrics of an inner soul. The production is very
good, where the recordings took place in over five studios. In
overall, the album is very good and proposed to those who like
listening to non-conforming and non-traditional metal bands from the
black metal scene, those not afraid to experiment with their sound.
[8,5]
Featuring
one time vocalist from Negura Bunget’s last effort “Vîrstele
Pămîntului”, Syn Ze Sase Tri are another one of those acts
with connections, albeit loose, from that small cluster of atavistic
and nature centered group that includes Negura, Martolea
and Dorededuh. But that’s essentially where the
comparisons cease as this group of Romanians toil away at a rather
more symphonic and accessible style of black metal that is vastly
distanced from the primitive atmospheric endeavours of their peers,
choosing to mould their sound around that exhibited by Dimmu
Borgir and Ancient among others.
A
swift dissection of the cover tells you all you need to know about
'Sub Semnul Lupului' really; on first glance it’s rather
impressive, detailed and vibrantly coloured but typically full of the
old clichéd CGI and wolves and warriors and all that twaddle. Closer
analysis reveals an album that could have been so much more, one
which often showcases brief flashes of brilliance unfortunately
bogged down with a multitude of genre-notorious clichés and stacks
of untapped potential for a hugely talented band. Given the rather
awful name, which translates to “I’m With Triple Six”, first
impressions weren’t too hot and on the first run through my opinion
wasn’t exactly favourable.
The
first half of the album is mediocre at best really, by the book
symphonic black metal with the keys and synths marauding around all
over the place adding a ‘gothic horror’ type vibe which is the
strongest aspect of the album and integral to their sound. None of
the songs really stand out and grab you by the throat though, yet
they threaten so much more. The guitar riffing is so flat and
clinical, melo-death-esque thick chugging riffs with no imagination
or thought at all really put into them, and at times it becomes
completely overwhelmed by the keyboard infused blur that it often
descends into. The lead guitar is better though nothing
awe-inspiring; indeed it serves its purpose sufficiently without ever
threatening much more.
It
does have its pluses though, the title track does begin with some
interesting and moody Gregorian styled chanting before commencing its
faced paced symphonic assault and “Vatra Stramoseasca” contains
echoes of Sear Bliss in its subtle use of brass which is no
bad thing. The dual vocals of Corb and Lycan are somewhat interesting
and the deeper death growls add a welcome touch of brutality to a
genre not otherwise renowned for such, while you have the more
typical high pitched Shagrath styled rasp slotting in alongside.
It’s
from the middle of the album where it really shifts up a level
altogether, notably in the acoustic grandiosity of “In Pantecu
Pamantului” which bears a remarkable affinity to Nokturnal
Mortum’s “Sky of Saddened Nights” and is utterly
enthralling in its astral stroked melancholy. This significant shift
in their musical focus I feel is a direction they should delve into
in the future, as these Romanian acts have proved time and time again
how fucking great they are at this style. “Inaripat Sie Impietrit”
continues this furrow of organic, introspective and atmospheric
brilliance with more focus on the ‘metal’ this time summoning
crystalline visions of freshly bloodied snow and the dwindling embers
of a setting sun.
As
it closes, I’m left so frustrated that they didn’t choose to
produce the whole album in this vein; it’s that fucking good.
Still, those in need of an acceptable dose of sugary symphonic black
metal from the same furrows as Catamenia,
Ancient
and Graveworm
I would say give it a shot, though the album's true power and
grandiosity really doesn’t begin to materialize until its far far
too late, though the potential is there clearly for all to see, it’s
just what they decide to do with it next is the real question.
[6]
