Greek black metal of the 10's: 2010

The more sharp-eyed followers of this blog should have noticed that, even if I punctually post top lists with only Greek releases every year, I am not the biggest fan of Greek black metal. As I went more into bands from the North, I tend to enjoy heavy experimentation and more tremolo than warmer, heavy metal-inspired patterns found in our scene, its history and importance is absolutely undeniable and has me observing new bands and albums constantly. There has been an evident rise in material the last few years, but the Greek bands have been around from the very beginning (and possibly even marked the beginning, even though mainstream attention was geographically elsewhere when the explosion happened) and the country’s endless, rich heritage serves as fuel for many inspired musicians around. 

I will be going through the last decade’s black metal full lengths only (excluding demos, extended plays, splits and the rest), at least as many as I have found or listened throughout the years, possibly discovering things I have missed, in the process. According to the archives, I’ve seen about 25 – 50 albums per year and I have already heard a lot of them when they were released. I’m consciously going to skip albums from bands that are too inclined to pseudo-intellectual bullshit, but apart from that there’s a lot of exciting gems and frustrating failures to talk about out there and I’ll go through as many as possible. Needless to say for one more time, all this is just one guy’s opinion, you know?

Ondskapt - Arisen from the Ashes (2010) Review

Since the autumn of last year, Ondskapt were supposedly recording new material that is by now highly anticipated, as the band's next step after a whole decade since 2010's Arisen from the Ashes. While waiting for anything to appear at all, it is a good opportunity to revisit their back catalog, which consists of three brilliant albums and a fine debut EP, even though the first thing that always comes to mind when thinking of them is this release only. I still remember talking about it when it came out then with a good friend, who was also impressed and is still an admirer of passionate and well crafted Swedish blackness. Arisen from the Ashes puts forth a hefty amount of melody through its finely composed tracks, features some of Ondskapt's most memorable moments, especially in the venomous guitar lines of "Astute Spectre" or "Ominous Worship of the Divine". I slightly preferred the more agonizing sound of Dödens evangelium but Arisen from the Ashes too is well produced, with entertaining lyrics and hardly any weak points. Only "Killing the Human Mind" has grown a bit dull to me after all these years of listening, yet you are immediately rewarded with the epic self-titled track at the end. 

Listen to Arisen from the Ashes:

Eastern Front - Blood On Snow (2010) Review

Album | Blood On Snow
Country | United Kingdom
Genre | Black Metal
Label | Candlelight Records

| Pools of frozen blood |

One of the many subjects bands deal with in this music is war, forwarded as history, awe or just the epitome of pain and suffering (which they are). It's one of the least tangling paths to choose and it's rather easy to acquire, given that you avoid unessecary genocide worship or racial hatred that will turn you into a moving target. Personally, I don't get why people go near extreme metal if they have not decided to come in terms with extreme ideologies and I support any band that holds tight to some beliefs, regardless of my thoughts on them. Eastern Front are a relatively new, British and warfriendly black metal band, as you can suspect from their name, and they are good storytellers as well as musicians. Their album Blood On Snow has an obvious concept around historic wars of the modern times, dealing with that in the entirety of the album, so there isn't any anti-religious / satanic/occult bubble talking here.

They have been promoting their 2008 Promo very much before releasing a new album and their efforts were awarded, as they signed to a big label like Candlelight for their debut release. Therefore, the production of the band has been positively predisposed towards a nice and clean balance, avoiding the no-fi syndrome of black metal and instead building it's own wall of disastrous noise. The instruments are audible and the sound is pleasingly polished, widowing the album as gratifying and easy to follow. I don't believe Blood On Snow sounds that bad, even though it has not escaped the vortex of modern mixing tricks and it certainly has some volume of it's own, but still I was happy listening to the various musical elements it contains and the intriguing "soundification" of it's concept. Within it's eight tracks and almost fifty minutes of length, one might as well attend a trip to cold and somber battlefields of wars.

The basic component of the album's compositional structure is definitely the variety of the guitar melodies. They aim a lot on creating epic and powerful riffs in each song so that the feeling of war is captured right away, especially in the amazing lines that have been written for the self-titled track "Blood on Snow" and "Where Warriors Once Fell". Along with the heavy, distorted guitars, lie a couple of acoustic filler parts in the songs, like in the latter of the previously mentioned or the introduction of "Motherland", also adding a lot to the atmosphere of the record. Generally, the fact that the band tries as much as they can to use their own ideas in their songs and avoid repetition and rip off techniques, is apparent and self-evident. They have a personal style in terms of structure and complexity.

I am also very fond of the distinct vocals. They are executed perfectly and in various forms, as the record contains cutting shrieks, ferocious growls and manly clean parts, the last being mostly in a narrating sense than any other. The tongue of the singer Nagant (a name also related to World War II, look it up) is delicate and forceful at the same time, varying a lot throughout the tracks and autharitarian at moments. An example is again the song "Blood On Snow" which is one of the top tracks of the record, for it's epicness, it's breathtaking main riff and the war sound samples. The use of various army, gun and battle samples used in the tracks, as well as in the wonderful instrumental "Dvenadtzat kilometrov ot Moskvy", which has synths and a piano, voice chants, a parade pace, are very accurate and give the album a whole better character.

The combination of the above characteristics is blended wonderfully here, creating a solid and very interesting album structure to listen to, as one doesn't feel as they know what's coming, a common weakness of other black metal bands. Not only that, I think it succeeds in shaping a warlike feeling, since the compositions and the melodies are not vaguely dynamic, but instead infuential and targeted to that particular direction. Blood On Snow could easily be used as a background or soundtrack to a documentary / movie / video collection (if the audience is intimate with the sound of course, hahaha). However, I was a bit balked by the distressed, simplistic lyrics, which are sadly not very effective on their own. I always expect some poetry behind the unfathomable screams, but I didn't get it here. Yet, that hardly reduced my joy listening to it.

In general, the album includes well thought ideas, presenting strong riffology and variety in it's style, while the musicianship is acute and direct. I had the chance to watch these guys live once in 2008 when they participated in a local festival around here, from what I remember they delivered really cool, despite the technical problems and the broad daylight. I'm not sure about the musical plans of the band but they are still active and I hope to see new material some time soon, as Blood On Snow grew on me and it's one of the records I come back to from time to time. If you want to take a break from purely religious themed bands and want something a little bit closer to reality, give this album a spin.

 DAMAGE: 8.5/10

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Lustre - A Glimpse of Glory (2010) Review

Lustre "A Glimpse of Glory"
Autumn 2010, De Tenebrarum Principio

Nachtzeit is not fooling around, instead he is focused on his project and keeps the releases coming every now and then. Lustre's second full length album "A Glimpse of Glory" was released a year after the first and an EP was out in the meantime, so the ground was still soft from the earlier releases. The record lies heavily on the atmosphere and the slow-paced tempo, but has undergone some alterations compared to "Night Spirit" and "Welcome Winter" EP.

The music is seperated to three pieces instead of two, without changing the overall length, which still clocks at 40 minutes. The ambiance of the tracks is not limited to some warm keyboard melodies, it has grown more spherical and contains all kinds of wild nature samples, like wind blowing, waves, wolf howls, ravens, birds... There is a second synth line that accompanies the guitars for a background basis, and on top of it are the various keys and the vocals, which sound distorted and afflictive. The music has grown into something deep and organic as well as atmospheric.

The first song "This Mighty Sight" (and by the way, i do prefer song titles instead of Part 1, Part 2 etc...) starts of with the sound of the wind, and shortly after there is a thrilling synth line which basically describes the first 10 minutes of the song. Towards the ending, there is a part that will be familiar to any fans of their first stuff, since it has these droning guitars with the scarce drumming and the soft keyboards, certainly provokes emotions. It is also the longest composition of the album, lasting 16 minutes. The second song "Lunar Light" has a 3 minute quiet intro and then kicks in with the same eerie ambiance as in the first song and closes with the sound of an outcrying wolf pack. The title of the album resembles a positive meaning and that is instrumentated in the last song "Amongst the Trees" which is a track of calmness and ebullience, consisting of synths and singing birds. I'm left with a feeling of euphoria as the album ends. The whole record contains only 4 lines of lyrics in the first song, the rest is fully instrumental.

I was expecting not to like this that much it really has a great touch on ambient black metal in a gentle way, that it completely erases the aggression of black metal itself. One has to be in the mood to appreciate this kind of music and if you do, i think this will come in handy during the late night hours.

Track listing:
1. This Mighty Sight
2. Lunar Light
3. Amongst the Trees

DAMAGE: 7.25/10

Nightbringer - Apocalypse Sun (2010) Review

Nightbringer "Apocalypse Sun"
Spring 2010, Avantgarde Music

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Coming back with a second album two years after their debut, Nightbringer released "Apocalypse Sun", which was highly anticipated at the time. It seems like "Death and the Black Work" worked great for the band's carreer and triggered them to continue, as the fanbase kept growing. I can't see what's so special about their first record, but this one is a notable improvement, by all means. To me, they fully placed themselves among the best bands of USBM and the orthodox scene with this album, which is ferocious and demonic from the start to the finish.

I had a feeling that the production would not let the compositions rise in the first record, and since this one is following the same path, i was correct. The immense musical borders of the band are unfolded with great success here, since the sound is clear and polished. The compositional ideas are not vastly different from the ones on the first but they do have expanded and they are much more enjoyable, as they are distinguishable. The album fails to avoid repetition, but it does create a chaotic atmosphere, which at least helps the band spread their occult message. One that listens to this album will recognize that it roots deeply into the orthodox territory, without having to read about the band's views in the first place, and that means victory for a record. The concept of the album, once again, will not be understood by the average listener because of the lack of knowledge on the subject, and that's why it's important for the music to somehow speak for itself. I'm sure part of the band's fans are trully inspired by these apocalyptic lyrics, and most of them probably peruse on them as well.

Nightbringer have wisely increased the number of tracks and they have divided their work to shorter portions. The album again lasts more than one hour, but it's easier to go through when there are tracks as short as 4 or 5 minutes. I'm glad they decided to move away from the slow pace they had, with additions to several fast songs and parts of songs, as the first two of the album "I Am I" and "Supplication Before the Throne of Tehom" and "Goblet of Sulfur and Poison". There is less ambiance as well -if there is any- and that leaves room to the tracks to create a vibe of their own. The guitars have that unbridled riffing method again and it fits most of the times, except when the album gets sluggish in songs like "Excitium: Litany of the Devouring Earth" and "The Utterance of Kasab'el", which are the weak points of the album. They don't have any major down points on their own, but compared to the delightful variety contained, they are cast aside. The vocal work is deep, painful and interesting. It helps the instruments most of the times, even though some howls are a bit inordinate and cover too much space for their spot. I admire the drums a little bit more as well, despite the fact that their machine-made sound is too obvious in a couple of songs.

All in all, it is a memorable album. When you listen to it for the first time, it feels like you have not consumed 100% of what it has to offer, and it seems one has to shut everything else off to fully appreciate the album. I can't speak for the black metal kvltsters that might be disappointed with the clean sound, which of course is not a negative issue. I did enjoy it more than the first album, but it didn't leave me with the best impression after i was done for half a dozen times. The comparisons with Deathspell Omega can't be avoided, but not in terms of which band is better (no contest) but as an example similar to Nightbringer's music. I can feel the potential and apart from my own taste, which did not fully approve it, i recommend it for the fans.

DAMAGE: 6.0/10

Entrails - Tales From The Morgue (2010) Review

Entrails "Tales From The Morgue"

2010, F.D.A. Rekotz

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Entrails origins go back to the beginning of the 90s, but they disbanded and they reformed 4-5 years ago, in the meantime they released 2 full length albums, one of them being this one. Having the soul of the old school, the guys have blended the best parts of that era and made the album for fans and not only.

Their first attempt is direct and raw, in terms of music and aesthetic. With legit production, they unfold the ideas they've been keeping for about twenty years now, covered under a veil of modern sound but still sounding old school as can be. Semi-growling, semi-shouting vocals, probably a result of getting older and the characteristic of swedish death metal, blasting drums and vicious guitar and bass lines, all together performed by the same guys that were around when this shit was invented. Good job.