Black Metal History Month -Slagmaur :"Thil Smitts Terror"

Is this black metal ? Is Behemoth black metal ? These guys from Norway have that kind of massive grandiose stomp to them. They are darker than your average death metal band and have more texture so we could possibly call them blackened death metal. If this wasn't Black Metal History month I might not be as ocd about finely categorizing these guys as they care about the songs and are good at what they do. There is a darker coating to the chords that ring out on the second song, but the vocals have more of a death metal bellow to their roar. The drummer prefers double bass to blast beats. The guitar is the most black metal element to their sound. "Werewolf" has a slower and darker throb to it that feels a little more black metal to me than the first song. They use choral chants to build off of the thickening atmosphere. The vocals and the drumming are really the only thing here giving it a death metal feel.

The guitar is much more melodic for the third song. If you listen closely you can hear some odd bits of percussion thrown in. When they get locked into the chug the distortion is a little overpowering in the mix, but is offset by the keyboards. "Heskritt" has dense groove to it and is powerfully heavy. At twelve minutes this does drone on a little, but you are never bored  "Hansel Unt" is another song driven by smart and sonically interesting guitar parts. There vocals feel more tortured here and are layered with weird middle eastern like chanting. "Vi Els' almost has an industrial feel to it until the big chorus of vocals booms in. It eventually hits it's groove and steadies out into a more deliberate pulse.

This album is a lot of dark twisted fun. It might not appeal to black metal purists , but much like Behemoth whose fan base might not be Darkthrone fans as well, this is good metal no matter then genre, blackened death metal might be the most fitting title to file it under, what ever the case I will give this album a 9.



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