DOODSWENS : "S/T"

 

The reason I do what I do is that you can not trust the mainstream metal press. They pander to record labels, which are often subsidiaries of larger media conglomerates with agendas to which they are beholden.  Svart Records is just owned by two Finnish dudes, so they are not suspects. But they can see where certain trends in music are heading and would want to flow with the current. This Dutch "band" is helmed by a girl who calls herself I. She represents in many ways what the press wants for the problematic genre of black metal. To dull the masculine aggression by diluting it, so they are hailing this as a masterpiece. Which is where I come in to answer the question of whether it is or not? 

The first track sounds well-produced, so they are not going for a raw feel here. But it's not all that original it could be someone covering newer Mayhem, well maybe not their most recent album, but their output from the past ten years. The second song is more rabid, also nothing that original. I don't really get interested until some of the songwriting nuance to "The Black Flame" catches my ear with its darker throb. Her vocal apporach remains pretty one-dimensional; not only is she the vocalist, but she also plays drums, which would be a challenge live. Perhaps that is why there are not many shifts of direction once they lock in, allowing things to drone on/. When dragged out for six minutes, it can begin to lose me. 

While I like Myrkur, this is more legit black metal than what she does, as her strength lies in other areas. I also appreciate that this is dark enough to convince me she is coming from a real place, even if the wheel is not being reinvented here. The throb of "These Wounds Never Heal" is more intentional. Her articulation is inconsistent, and the lyrics emerge more clearly in some songs than others.  While things vary from song to so far the first half of the album is dynamically flat. Though there are not a ton of blast beats, the tremolo-picked guitars are pretty color-by-numbers. The first thing they do to switch it up is to give a little more atmosphere going into "She Carries the Curse". The drumming slows things down, and the vocals are more muffled in the mix.  It just sounds like random screaming following the path the guitar left for it. 

"Devils Stone" sounds like if you ordered Watain from Temu. It borrows the feel of their dramatic march. The album looses it's steam in the third act for sure as the last song feels like an extension of the previous song with a little more chaos in the mix. I will give this album an 8, so there are lots of black metal band bands putting out garbage that this is better than. But while well executed it's not the most original thing I've heard. If you want gritty black metal that still sounds good then this is worth your time.