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.

Satanic Warmaster / Archgoat : 'Lux Satanae 13 Hymns of Finnish Devil Worship"

Not really the biggest fan of splits as they are rarely from two artists that I like. Since Satanic Warmaster starts things off with the blasty 'Black Destiny", They have more to prove since I already know I like Archgoat and I have really only caught these guys in passing on Last Fm. What sounds to be synths in the background offers up a little more atmosphere than what their flavor of raw Finnish black metal offers. The lyrics which like the album title suggests are thick with devil worship and more easily deciphered than you might think. 'Wolves of Blood and Iron" they are cursing the jewish creation, and I can hear that these guys are pretty passionate with what they are doing and it spills over into the blood of their music. Sonically both songs carry the same dynamics until it slows into a more majestic gallop, not in the Moonsorrow sense as this retains its rough edges. But these guys are beginning to win me over. The opening riff to cover of Pest's  'Satanic Winter" makes it sound like a circle pit is going to open up. The vocal have a more choked tone to them. On the chorus the vocals are doubled up with a lower death metal growl.

Despite the touches of ambiance in the background there is a more straight forward blast to "My Kingdom of Darkness' that I don't seem compelling until they get to the chorus where is more obvious they care about song writing more than blasting. Then it switches over to Archgoat's " Jesus Spawn", this is a more gurgled and gritty take on the genre, feeling more like death metal to me. Only gets more melodic when the solo comes into slow it for a minute before the go back into the grime ridden frontal assault. It's evident that these guys have grown as song writers , because there is just more meat to the matter on their last album. They do have more of a groove captured on "Penis Perversor" .  The dives into the solos are very Morbid Angel here. "Angelcunt' finds back at more primitive death metal state that to me  recalls Amon era Deicide. "Satanic Oath" is just a burst of an interlude before the grinding blast of "Soulfay". They continue down a similar left hand path of grim ridden gurgling this time with a little more groove to it on "Black Messiah" , but they still keep things true to their more primal earlier days.

They blast into your face like a money shot from hell with the raw explosion of "Thrice Damned Sodomizer". I listened to this song in three different sitting and it never resonated more than being a rather obtuse piece of curdled density. Their final offering and the 13th hymn is you are following along in your hymnals " Rise of the Black Moon" is a much more engaging listen that lives up to where they are now as a band and would make sense in their current live set. Overall this one caught me off guard as I was way more into Satanic Warmaster's contribution's than Archgoat's , so this can be seen as positive in the sense that it shows how much Archgoat has grown as songwriters , it also makes me want to check out Satanic Warmaster's last album. I'll round it up to a 7.  Which is the average for this album with Satanic Warmaster earning a 9 for their songs and Archgoat getting a 5.5.

Black Metal History Month-Satanic Warmaster:"Fimbulwinter"

Not sure why but this my first time really giving these guys much of a shot. Some of their past material that I heard in passing on Last Fm, was too raw and straight forward me, which is also one of the staples of Finnish black metal.  This album seems to a little more mature and have more texture to it.They give the blast beats a slight breather at the on set of "Funereal Wolves". The vocals has a very distinct Nazgul like rasp to them. It does begin to get a tad repetitive by the three minute mark, until they go for an school galloping thrash breakdown.

They find their way into some melody on "Korppi" , though it is short lived as they always return to the blast beats. The drive is fast and straightforward here , yet their is a slight thrash like groove until the blast beats are poured on again. By the time we get to "Where Thunder's Hail" it is beginning to blur together and the songs are less distinguishable. It took four and a half minutes into "Dragon's egg" to hear anything that made it different from the previous song. The kind of Bathory vibe to "Winter's Hunger is probably the album's best moment,as it's not being blasted at you at a million miles an hour. There is also some ambiance to "Silent Call of Moon's Temples."However this never goes anywhere and just drones on.

So I guess it's clearer to me why I didn't give this guys much of a shot to begin. But now that I have, I can say I respect the intensity they possess, but don't consider them to be any where close to being the greatest song writers in the genre as they rely to heavily on the feral element to drive the songs past you before you can hear there is not much going on as far as dynamics or layers. There are some impressive moments and this album is not terrible so I am giving it a 6, as these guys know what they are doing I just find it a bit one sided.
Th