Review : BURZUM – ‘Umskiptar’

Posted on July 7, 2012 by MetalMattLongo

Burzum – Umskiptar
Release: 2012May21
Label: Byelobog Productions
Rating: 1.5/5

I don’t really know what to say about Varg Vikernes. I’ve written and rewritten this introduction several times, in the hopes of coming up with something insightful to say about the man, but have yet to come up with anything worthwhile. I love him and hate him at the same time. He is both a gift and a curse to the metal world and some of his music is truly breathtaking. He’s been responsible for or at least involved in some of the finest albums put out over the course of the last 20 years. I’m always happy when he puts out something terrible, though, because then I don’t have to feel guilty about supporting the music of, as MetalSucks put it, a “murdering bigot fuckhead”.

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Review : VORKREIST – ‘Sigil Whore Christ’

Posted on June 13, 2012 by MetalMattLongo

Vorkreist – Sigil Whore Christ
Release: 2012April22
Label: Agonia Records
Rating: 4/5

Chuggalug.

Wait, is Vorkreist Western European death-thrash or black metal? Maybe both? After some spooky and silly spoken word, Saint Vincent arrives with some of the most sinister black metal vocals I’ve heard in a while, even if he does sound a bit like Dimmu Borgir‘s Shagrath. In fact, much of this album seems inspired by Dimmu of this past decade. A lot of BM fans may stop reading at this point, but I’ll tell you now, if you’re okay with black metal not being uberkvlt all the time, you may find some enjoyment in this album. Catchy, well-produced and well-executed, the first song is a solid start to Sigil Whore Christ.

The second track, “Maledicte”, seems a little less inspired—nothing new at all, except for the juxtaposition of growls with black metal vocals and a little bit more of the silly and spooky clean vocal. “Deus Vult” sounds like your standard death metal about half of the time, and standard black metal the other half of the time. It’s not too interesting, and seems like filler, as do two or three of the other songs on the album.

“Ecce Homo” is one of those Dimmu-esque songs I was talking about—I hate comparing it to that, because it’s so much better than what you might think. It’s got some catchiness to it and is overflowing with energy. About a minute into it, there’s a really heart-exploding tempo change, which brings the song to a whole new level.

“Ad Nauseam” is the obligatory blackened doom track, and it’s a prime example of how the vocals on Sigil Whore Christ help make the album the interesting listen that it is—they rasp vocals aren’t unintelligible much of the time, which is odd for a black metal band.

I mentioned earlier the album was well-produced. By kvlt black metal standards, Sigil Whore Christ is very overproduced. I’m saying it fits here because there is a lot of nontraditional riffs and black metal elements. Having a metal-trash-can recording wouldn’t make this album any better (or worse). Sigil Whore Christ would have been better as an EP due to some weak songs, but with its distinct and clear production, satisfactory vocals, and intriguing songwriting, the Parisian Vorkreist deserves notice.

~Breath of Mozym

Review : SECRETS OF THE MOON – ‘Seven Bells’

Posted on March 27, 2012 by MetalMattLongo

Secrets of the Moon – Seven Bells
Label: Prophecy Productions
Release Date: 2012Apr10
Rating: 8/10

I’m a fan of long songs. Extra time gives tracks a chance to breathe and really pound their way into your head. Of course, I don’t shun shorter stuff – Napalm Death’s Scum would probably be in my top 10 of all time – but I really feel that the most emotionally meaningful music comes from the bands who are willing to go out and pass the all-powerful 10-minute mark. However, there are plenty of examples where folks just weren’t able to pull off the long song. Lots of Dream Theater material comes to mind (despite the fact that I do love a select sample of their work), as does just about every death metal song that’s exceeded 7 minutes (not a rule of thumb, but shit like the title track from Brain Drill‘s Quantum Catastrophe just makes me lose faith in the productivity of the entire genre).

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Review : ENTHRONED — ‘Obsidium’

Posted on March 21, 2012 by MetalMattLongo

Enthroned – Obsidium
Release: 2012March20
Label: Agonia Records
Rating: 4.5/5

A diabolic offering from one of the world’s most steadfast black metal bands, Obsidium gets better the louder you crank your stereo. It will most likely be on my playlists for a while. Oh yeah, and make sure to check out my forthcoming interview with Nornagest.

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Review : IMMOLITH — "StormDragon"

Posted on February 3, 2012 by MetalMattLongo

Immolith - StormDragon
Release: 2012Feb14
Label: Metalhit.com
Rating: 4/5

Composition: 4/5 

Pure raw black metal with evil melodies and hooks that would make Skeletonwitch jealous. They utilize dual guitar harmony a good deal—in some songs more than others. For instance, the title track is filled with interesting layers of guitars that go beyond simple diatonic harmony. Possibly to accommodate for this, the bass guitar is pushed so far back it can barely be heard. This means during the parts where the guitars are doubled up, it gets quite boring, such as in some of the slower parts of “The Obsidian Throne of Azazel”. But these are very few and in between. Throughout the album, the style does not change; the songs are structured without rigid formula, and some melodies are able to separate the songs from one another, but each one uses the same bag of tricks.

Musicianship: 4/5 

Nothing fantastic here. Just straightforward, harmonious black metal. There are a few flashy, yet grating tremolo-picked guitar parts, but most of the riffs are simple single-string or double-stops. There are a few solos hidden throughout the album, but they’re small and unimportant (as they tend to be in this genre), and they probably would be just as good to omit them. Immolith play their instruments well; everything is tight, nothing is sloppy.

Production: 4/5

Production is up to my black metal standards. It’s dirty, it’s real, and its violent. My only complaint is that it isn’t a very heavy mix.

Mood (Hate): 5/5

StormDragon definitely has that melodic black metal appeal (think somewhere between Dissection and Dark Tranquility’s The Gallery). You’d think that because of this, there isn’t much of a mood setter because guitar melodies tend to be up-lifting; but through the thoughtful use of dissonant intervals, evil cadence, and the diabolus in musica, your mind does not drift to such flowery places. I can also imagine Immolith would set a really great atmosphere live—especially for black metal fans who also like the energy of modern thrash metal.

Presentation (Ferocity): 3.5/5

As I mentioned before, the mix isn’t very heavy. The guitars are way in the foreground, which makes for an interesting listen, but it detracts from the mix as a whole. Any headbanging you’ll be doing will be completely reliant on composition and the way the melodies flow—which is one of their talents; the riffs in “A Pact of Blood”, the last song on the album, are incredibly driving and invigorating. Raw high-end EQ works great for primitive black metal, but this has already taken too many innovative steps.

Origin (Tradition/Innovation): 3/5 

D&D 4th Edition Immolith Miniature

As far as I can tell, Immolith takes it’s origin from Dungeons & Dragons, in the most unholy tradition of black metal (not to mention their own label is called “Carrion Crawler”). StormDragon has a strange balance of traditional black metal production quality and inventive melodic modernity, utilizing both progressive harmony and a few heavy metal hooks. The rawness and minimalism of the traditional side would have you wallowing in misanthropy and self-hatred if it weren’t for the inspired creativity, and you can’t fully enjoy the horns-in-the-air/in-your-face dual guitar riffs because it lacks the heaviness of more contemporary black metal. I realize that Immolith is trying to have their cake and eat it too, but in this case they’ve spread the frosting too thin.

4 out of 5

StormDragon is a tremendously enjoyable album. Reservations about production only apply when you listen in-between bigwigs like Immolation and Immortal. Rhythm guitar enthusiasts will find the album enjoyable, as the riff composition and harmony is top-notch. Trust me, you will not be bored with this album.

~Breath of Mozym

Review : ALCEST — "Les Voyages De L'Âme"

Posted on January 27, 2012 by MetalMattLongo

Alcest – Les Voyages De L’Âme
Release: 2012Jan06
Label: Prophecy Productions
Rating: 4.5/5

Alcest‘s previous full-length, Écailles De Lune, was my first review for Mind Over Metal. Now that we’re at another release, it feels right that I do this one, too. Les Voyages De L’Âme opens with “Autre temps”, and the first thing you’ll notice is that Neige has ventured even further from his metal roots. The first half of this song has a mild appeal, even tamer than Green Carnation‘s acoustic songs. It’s awash with reverb and is dripping with soft, watery echo. Distorted guitars eventually make their way in (even some tremolo-picked parts towards the end), but the overall sound is soft, gentle, and perhaps in some respects, a little straightforward.

“Là où naissent les couleurs nouvelles” offers more of what you would expect from Alcest: that droning shoegaze place caught between joy and melancholy. The vocals are wondrous and mellow. You might think the drums would fall to the background like they do with a lot of post-black metal, but they’re way up there, produced well, and dynamically engaging. The song even features screams, and eventually semi-traditional blast beat black metal which is absolutely beautiful—not jarring in the least. Then, just when you think it may become repetitive, the song explores new lands of this dreamscape, as only Neige can.

The title track has more of this good stuff, though it starts getting excessively cheerful toward the end, at least as far as melody is concerned. Even though I like things dark, it does create a nice juxtaposition against the more forlorn passages (although don’t expect smiles and hand-clapping like Mr. Big or anything). “Beings of Light” is another brilliant nod to the post-black, with a simple choral structure that is both elegant and heavy.

Les Voyages de l’Âme is a great album. The clean and atmospheric production shows logical progress, but composition doesn’t go anywhere new that’s of consequence. This is fine for now, because the sound achieved by Écailles De Lune did warrant further exploration, but for future releases, I’m hoping for progression outside of the atmospheric shoegaze post-black metal melancholy safety zone—so long as it’s not soft rock. [Deep inside, I hope you feel it, too. ~Ed.]

Composition: 4/5
Musicianship: 5/5
Production: 5/5
Mood: 5/5
Presentation (Ferocity/Doom): 5/5
Origin (Innovation/Tradition): 4/5

(but don’t take my word for it, Prophecy Production has made available the entire album on YouTube!)

~Breath of Mozym has a blog here and also just interviewed Neige.

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Tag Archives: Black Metal