PORTA NIGRA : "Weltende"

This German band has always been OK in my book. They blast into your face from the get go, establishing them as more of a black metal band than the previous two albums we reviewed here. While this really intense display of raw aggression hits you sonically, how well the will grow on you from a songwriting perspective is another story. "Gotterblut" also blasts at you with rapid fire determination. However in doing so they offer some more varied elements in the guitars and vocals to make it more interesting then the opening track that works off sheer intensity alone. They prove on "Volerbrand' that they can come out and rock the fuck out from every angle as each instrument is played to the best of their ability, even the vocals are more varied. All this is done with cohesive songwriting. 

There is some experimentation with the odd time signatures that jerk the groove around on "Verlorena..." The snarl of the vocals is varying degrees of full fledged growl. When we get into the thick of this album they are good at being thoughtful and aggressive, which does into blast beats more, though they prove themselves capable of deviating from the single shade of black. "Weltende" is more feral, though also more restrained in the taunt nature of it's attack.  They are a finely tuned machined for sure. I hope this brings them more recognition. 

I had to give "Triebgeschwame" as second listen to fully form an opinion of it. The drummer is racing through the song and has their double bass game dialed in. The song moves with a gallop without getting Iron Maiden like at all. I also had to give the last song another listen for a similar reason though there is a lot more on on there. It is way more melodic .While I do not know how many more listens I am going to give this album, I have enjoyed the ones I indulged in tonight , and believe this is a step forward for the band and deserves me to give it a 9.