Tsjuder : "Antiliv"

This is the fifth full length for the Norse band. They start with a blast fitting of the title "Khaos". With a dry mid range croak, he exclaims something along the lines of being fucking evil and a bringer of chaos, so they are not trying to go a more accessible route.On the second song they find a bigger sound at a more mid-paced tempo. There are some explosive sound effects like they are playing inside a video game in places. The riffs have some hook to them and over all its an improvement from the opener and makes me a little more hopeful in regards to the rest of the album. The hit a good middle ground on "Norge" ( Norway) using the blast beats in spurts. The production should also be commended because they hit the sweet spot where it is raw enough to give the mix teeth, but not so low-fi things are distant in the mix of thin and feeding back.

When the pour on the speed the band seems less inspired so it's moments like the thrash riff in "Djevelens" that keeps things interesting. It also depends upon how they are going full throttle, as "Demonic Supremacy" is more varied, yet races through the hell-fire as fast as any of the songs. Sure this album is loaded with heavy metal cliches, black metal has begun to acquire its own, but these are well executed on " Slumber With the Worm". There are some Slayer moments at the beginning of "By Ferdens End".These lead to a blast-to -thon that is more compelling when they slow down to the more pulsating riff.

They find a powerful metal chug on the title track that closes the album, the deluxe edition has other songs and other versions of these songs, but  for this review I'm jut sticking with the normal album version.You begin to ask your self why hasn't the band capitalized more on this kind of sound as this song really stomps down with tons of power. Is it black metal, that is debatable, but it's just good metal so why count straws at that point. They drop down into an even heavier chug as the album ends, it heavy in a more commanding manner than Inquisition, though there are some comparisons to their last album that can be found here. Overall it's one of the better black metal albums to come out of Norway who has given up ground to other countries when it comes to black metal in recent years. I'll give it an 8.5.