Black Metal History Month - Goatmoon :"What Once Was Shall Be Again"

 This is the 7th album by the Finnish one man black metal project. Blackgoat takes most of the credit though this time around he has ample session players helping him out. This gives the album's sounds a fuller more organic feel. While the aggressive riffing maintains a hooky glue to hold the songs together this  is on the rawer and heavier side of black metal, despite it's more thrashing traditional metal influence. There are moments of rock n roll guitar solos, and head banging section that owe more to Juda Priest than Burzum. I think black metal should be melodic enough to hold it's own in the songwriting department along side other sub genres. 

"Breastfed By Reptiles" keeps a similar balance. When I put on head phones I got a better feel for the album's production value which has everything dialed in rather than going for a cvlt feel. This album does have it's fair share of blast beats. The tropes of black metal are in place though balanced by the more NWOBHM feel. The most extreme element of this album is the shrieked vocals. That is not to say they are not angry enough to play at a pretty rapid pace. The faster sections are just balance out by more deliberate head banging sections. The vocals however remain at a constant level of anguish. 

"Rodent Throne" starts off with a catchier riff and then they get lost in their wrathful lashing out. Their speed almost gets the best of them, but they still manage to not trip over their own feet. Half way into the song they slow for a few bars of a really cool riff, which is something they have leaned into more. The title track sets the epic atmosphere of  a more folk feel against the feral sneer that dominates this album. The screaming could stand to be more articulated. This might be just a stylistic choice. The spoken word parts might not be necessary if the vocals controlled the narrative more. 

"Trinity" finds the guitars staying in their tremolo driven buzz. The layered folk melodies feel similar in theme to the previous song's. You can almost understand the lyrics if you listen close enough. After the sound effects the last song has more of a punk feel. For whatever perceived reason I do not expect this album to get a great deal of coverage from the mainstream metal press. I guess black metal can not be too hateful for them, and should be spreading love. They are commend for the zeal which they pursue this and it proves to be song focused even after the angry lashing the songs are give by the snarling vocals. I will give this an 8.5. Coming out on Werewolf Records.

Black Metal History Month - the True Werewolf :"Devil Crisis"

This is the first album from this band, but their resume includes Satanic Warmaster and Horna, so you know what you are getting into going into this album. I respect both of thoe bands , but they typically tend to fall into the more raw than I like category of black metal, which is common with the Finnish scene they come from. This album might start off that way be is more textured nuance and better produced than what I expected from them going into this. The first song has synths going into it that softens the sound a little, but it is pretty much a very straight forward black beaten second wave black metal sound. The vocals are more forward in the mix and do not feel like an after thought. They are a mid range raspy snarl. :Thy Deviant" kind of bores me as it just drones on the same blasting riff. "Spellbound is marginally better. The ritualistic same intro sets a better stage. The vocal doubling also provides another needed texture. I think sometimes blast beat when this frantic can feel like they are rushing a song in a more punk manner.

"Chi No Namid" finds things changing in the best way possible for them,. Granted the keyboards play a bigger role, but the slow down and let the song breath. This trend continues on the song that follows which goes in an almost Dimmu like direction with the symphonic elements.  They are not as mean, but they are better songs and give me more of a desire to listen to them more than once. "In the Witch of my Heart " has a very Bathory sound to it . This is no surprise since Bathory and Venom are the two bands mowst influential to this brand of black metal though you can hear some Mercyful Fate in the theatrics of how the earlier songs are set up.

It's funny that I just mentioned Venom because that is exactly where this goes on the last song. It has that very rock n roll feel. This album is a great deal better than I though it would be going into it. It is not that dark, perhaps a litle darker than most metal since it is black metal, but more straight forward and less dark than my tastes . Though it 's pretty fun and well done I will round it down to an 8.5 whihc is likely as high as I have ever given a Horna album,. Thos comes out February 28th on Werewolf Records.

Black Metal History Month - Goatmoon : "Stella Polaris"

Opening with the title track, we have some very well recorded and executed black metal that is very thrash influenced, so it holds more groove than just blast beats making it rather obvious that this Finnish band is no strangers to Dissection records. There is a little more of a pagan metal folk swing to the gallop of the next song, but even though it is not as dark as prefer my black metal, it is refreshing they are not relying on momentum alone to numb you into submission. Folk metal melodies continue to frolic over their Northern Euro stomp. "Wolf Night" is a brisk jaunt at under two minutes, but gets the job done with an almost more punk energy that shows this album has yet another color to it.

They get back to more of an epic folk metal vibe with the instrumental "Sonderkommando Nord". It would work better as a full fledged song , but for what it is it works well enough.The keyboards on this album are well used adding another layer to more blasty songs like "Warrior". The vocals are higher pitched rasp that not as crazed or shrieked as some, but above a growl. The more melodic interludes in this song are interesting and I think well paced. They seem to be increasing their need for speed once when are rocketed into "Conqueror", by the time we get to this song I think it is not playing to the band's strengths and begins to feel like filler.

"Overlord" starts off at yet another dizzying tempo. I think if this was band I just expected that from it would not make me raise an eye as I would already be numbed out by them. Here I had my expectations raised on the first half of the album, so it feels more like they are dialing it in and just settling with blast beats when they can do more."P.A.I.L" is a more drastic change of pace with it's ballad like tone. Singing is not this guy's strength, but it works well enough as it begins to feel like a viking was just thawed out of a block of ice and trying to drunkenly sing a folk song to a Skid Row power ballad. Having grown up on a steady diet of hair metal I can appreciate this. This album is a lot of fun despite being caught in a mire of blast beats in the second half, I'll still give it a 8.5. Being released on Werewolf Records who are pumping out some pretty decent black metal these days.