Laster : "Ons vrije fatum"

The thing I like about black metal from the Netherlands is that it refuses to follow the rules. This is the band's second album. It starts off pretty strong with the second song turning into more of a blast fest yet they make it feel more depressive, the vocals have more emotion to them rather than the first song where they sound like a choking crow that has been poisoned. Other layers are added as the album progresses. Clean vocal float to the surface in tasteful doses. But more often than not the vocals are in flayed crow mode. By the fourth song the vocals are more hatefully shouted and and make more sense, if you speak their native tongue. They are capable of creating many moods, all of them variations on bleak shades of gray.Sometimes these are explored all in the same song when they take you on the longer 11 plus minute journeys.By five minutes in they have already hit you with a half dozen slinky riffs with samples babbling beneath them.

In the final few minutes it does settle down into more of a typical blasting. After an interlude they go into another trademark blend of melody and melancholy with some clean vocal trade off. Sometimes they might remind you of a mix between Alcest and Agalloch. The more whispered rasps and the clean vocals which are not as fey as Alcest and more in a harmonized Enslaved like chant. The crows are pretty agonized on the last song, though clean vocal trade off feels like a formula that is being sustained from the previous song. Suppose if we thought back to pre-"Vertebrae Enslaved" and added a more despair drench bath of agony to their viking odes you might get a clearer picture as to the water these guys are sailing in.

Lets be honest if we are comparing these guys to Alcest, Agalloch and Enslaved that is pretty lofty company for these guys to be numbered among. Production wise it is slightly rougher around the edges than what those bands do. I'll round this one up to a 9, some of the songs are a little long so who know how much I will actually listen to it. We are looking into the future here since this album doesn't come out until next year, but 2017 could be a good year for black metal.


5.2