Some eight years ago I was contacted by Otrebor (drums) who asked if I would be interested in reviewing their debut album, which was recorded by three musicians who had never actually met. I certainly enjoyed their raw sound, saying “If you miss the “good old days” when black metal was frightening and disturbing, then look no further.” The band have kept punishing the unwary, and they are now back with their fourth full-length release, their first for Code 666. As well as Otrebor, Amalgamoth is still there on vocals and synths, but they have a new guitarist in D. (Book of Sand), for whom this is his first album.

The new album is a conceptual one, paying tribute to seven pre-Christian, Pagan gods in as many songs. Stylistically, the band has moved away from its more “chaotic, Heathen black metal” approach from the bands’ previous full-lengths and EPs, and to a more progressive, psychedelic, keyboard-driven vibe while solidly staying within the black metal canon. They have taken a sideways step, moving into something that can still be raw and abrasive, yet also has less guitar and more keyboards. Again the production is quite deliberate, bringing forth an incredibly bleak and nihilistic sound, with punishing snare drums combing with keyboards that are all over the place in terms of tone while the guitars are sometimes behind the vocals, and sometimes on top of them.

This is late Eighties/early Nineties style Black Metal, containing none of the polish many have now come to expect. It is as if they have taken the early Darkthrone tapes, and decided that there wasn’t much wrong with these so why shift too much? Now they are signed to a label like Code 666 they should gain far more publicity and rightly so. This is black metal like it used to be, and is all the better for it.

Rating: 7/10

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