Forgotten Darkness - Nacht aus Blut - 3/5
http://www.mediafire.com/d
"Lyrical Theme(s): Anti-Christian, Death, Hate, Pain, Anger". Actually, I don`t really need to say anything further. This is the perfect summary of not only the band`s lyrics, but also the music. If you`re in a hurry, I wouldn`t bother reading the rest of the review, but for the sake of thoroughness, I`ll continue anyway.
I stumbled on this band per chance one day and, given my ongoing fetish with all things German, I gave it a try. I`ll try to describe what happened next. The album very duly opened with a thunderstorm and the voice of a man saying "Es war zur zeit des schwarzen Todes" ("It was at the time of the Black Death"). And there all intelligebility ended. The album is created to make you lose all sense of sanity and drop into the abyss of pure metallic lunacy. Raw and dirty. I think I just jizzed in my pants.
Musically, you cannot get anything "new" from listening to this band. What you do get is this: Astyanax abuses his drum set like the finest in Black Metal do; two guitarists (Corvus and Mortum) provide the atmospheric brutality that can only be provided if you suffered some sort of abuse when you were young, I`m sure; and the lovely high-pitched screeches, exactly the sort that I like - those of a madman waiting to butcher his next victim in a wood cabin in some dark forest - are made by Alazrail (who left the band in 2007); there is also a bassist on this album, but, after hearing it, you`ll know why he left.
Production wasn`t too high on the priority list, but wasn`t entirely neglected and I believe this schezophrenia led to the album retaining it`s raw sound, whilst not sacrificing any of it`s listenability.
What further can I say? What they do is what all Raw Black Metal bands do. Just well. Tremelo picking; blast beat drumming; high-pitched, angst-ridden screeches; effects (bombs dropping, storms etc.); the all too necessary acoustic track ("Ausklang"). Everything that you expect in a Raw Black Metal band is there, and it doesn`t sound like it was made by an eight year-old playing around in his fathers garage, either. It`s in no way bad, just too plain. Like repainting the Mona Lisa, they have ceated something beautiful, but not something unique or especially memorable.
I wouldn`t call this album anything more than average, but if all Black Metal albums sounded like this, I would still be dead happy. Check it out.
Highlights: Ausklang, Pesthauch
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