Origin: Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Status: Active
Formed: 1993
Genre(s): Black Metal
Now, let's get to the point - I am here to review their only studio work, entitled; German Black Metal Art - kind of a goofy name, but some bands (for a reason, I've never get to understand.) baptize their albums with similar names. As for how I got to know them? That's kind of a funny tale, it all came from a random search in Google, into which, I stumbled upon their page at Metal Archives - Therefore, why I decided to start.
The album opens with the song; His Instant is There which, the opening is mainly Sven the band's singer screaming and yelling, in a really, really impressive way - It's not your generic "waaah!" or depressive scream most bands out there would give, but rather something a bit raw, which, it's really good - Then, the music comes into play; It has a slightly familiar tone to those bands like Venom or Hellhammer really trashy, yet retaining the atmosphere and basics of a common black metal act, at moments, it becomes really fast and almost hard to keep on track, however, their melodies are still down there - By just listening this first track, I knew the album was going to be great.
We are followed by Beyond This Life and The Scourge of Mankind, two tracks that are not so different from the first one, really fast and harsh, yet enjoyable to the ear - Sven's vocals, however, do change a little bit through them, making different tones and even whispering/using spoken word technique during the end of The Scourge of Mankind. Here is were things start to get really interesting.
Then, we meet the album's fourth track; Dämonenblut (which can be roughly translated as; Blood of the Demon or Demon's Blood.) - Is at this point, where the band starts altering the sound, even incorporating other elements an standard black metal band wouldn't have, not even after smoking 19 pots of weed - Guitars are pretty melodic even while being fast, the drums have a different technique from previous songs and, Gozer the band's founder also adds some creepy but intriguing choruses to it - Making it feel like if you were really spilling the blood of a demon - Sven's growl's are varied through the entire recording, being harsh at moments, almost inaudible and incomprehensible, but there are moments where, even if you do not understand German, his voice is really clean, not losing that brutality of extreme metal acts.
Following this, we get into what's probably, the most outstanding part in the whole recording; A Tribute to Thy Majesty - The album's fifth track and the longest of them all, here we meet with the sound of keyboards and even clean guitar sounds during it's intro - Not really eerie or creepy, but then, they are interrupted by then again, the band's incredible fierce sound - The entire track is actually not so different from it's predecessor during its first minute, but reaching the second, some clean singing and melodic components are added, which then again, it's really weird; For a small and underground black metal band, this is something to admire; Esque-Gregorian chants, long high pitched shrieks that top and level it, and then once more, the singer's voice is fucking comprehensible, even with its speed! Drums and guitars do change a lot on the song's course, altering the composition after reaching the aforementioned minute. For example; upon reaching min 4, they become incredibly fast and fierce, but way before that, the instruments are really melodic & engaging to the ear. Then, we have a small breakdown, just to engage into that harsh and symphonic sound once more, which to be honest- made my skin bristle, an effect most underground bands never reach on me.
The remaining four tracks are not so different from each other...I am kidding, they actually are!
Ein Mitternachtsschrei (the 6th song.) adds a somehow, ambient and atmospheric sound to it, with the use of keyboards and a nice sound of clean chords, it remained me a lot of bands like Shining (SWE) and even Sigh (JAP), the intro also has Sven's clean vocals as an speech, obviously in the band's mother language, and since there are no lyrics to them on the web, I can understand what he's trying to say, but one thing is certain, it fucking rules! For being one of the smallest tracks on here, it possess a lot of strength, the whole thing is more than simply captivating - And now that I compared it to Shining, I have to add, it does possess somehow, a melancholic tone to it.
The Surge of Hate - starts off as really fast and heavy, it seems as if the band lost the whole symphonic element for a moment...but then, the key's harmonically sound comes into play, opening Sven and CO a place to continue with their fierce music, it actually accompanies his voice for a small trajectory of it, but holy damn! Both fit at perfection. Then again, once the song gets really melodic, we even meet with those awesome whispers the singer is able to create, not sounding like a total mental creep like most bands, but not being so silent about it either. It ends with something heavy, yet not departing from its beginnings, still accompanied by the dynamic sound of keyboards.
And so, we made it to the two remaining tracks; Our Revenge has Come which opens with another speech, this time in a guttural and raw voice, just to be silenced by the incoming sound of a really technical guitar sound, and a somehow, really medieval sound in the melody - The opening riff has that Death Metal air all over it, something by far, more than astonishing. Gozer comes into play again, supporting Sven with those awesome choruses of pure darkness and hatred - This song is possibly, the most melodic of them all. It has your typical breakdowns, down-tempos, drum blasts and accelerated beats, medieval keyboards and raw sound any other Symphonic Black band would possess - And to be honest, this is possibly, my favourite track.
My Kingdom is Your Dream - The album's last track, lasting around 7 & half minutes; This is to progressive like Our Revenge has Come is to symphonic - This is the band's most progressive song in the album - It has a similar structure to the already cited song, for a moment of course, then, it changes into something a bit calmer, just to irrupt violently once more, but what I really enjoyed was the end, it's nothing more but the sound of instruments, slowly fading away - The drums in particular are majestic. The intro is basically a fucking guitar solo! Very few songs have that, and remember, we're talking about a damn black metal band! At moments, drum became so fast it leads you to believe they are programmed, but no, they are played by one individual, I just wonder...how that poor guy could stand this? I mean, getting into such an experimental album...it has to hurt man, but surely, it's worth the risk.
Now, I could keep going on and on and on about the whole thing, but let's get to a conclusion; EPIC! This work is EPIC! To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, the band has a small profile, the logo looks really amateurish for my taste, the entire cover is pretty much the same, but then again, you should never judge a book by its cover, right? And, I'm so glad this wasn't the case. For a starting point, I would think it was going to be a raw but enjoyable work, not too many variations during its course, but how wrong was I! It's like, you're going through the entire Second Wave of Black Metal; From Mayhem to Emperor and then to Ancient, just to jump into some Burzum and Marduk, I know...weird, but it fucking works! And, the production, for an Underground band, the production isn't your typical; "recorded in an ancient WWII fortress located in Germany" or "recorded in an abandoned cave in Norway." No, nothing like that! Sure, don't expect it to be something like a song from the radio or a band like Slayer, but it's superior to most crappy acts down there.
Would I recommend it? If you are into metal...WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GIVE THIS SHIT A LISTEN! Otherwise, I think you won't really like it, the entire thing it's really heavy.
RATE:
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario