Beastcraft/Orcrist split 7” Temple of Darkness Records
	Displayed in a wonderful gatefold with either normal vinyl or pic disc, here is the stuff of the true underground, a place I am most at home with. Each band contributes two tracks wrought with misanthropic bile. The whole package and the bands reek of a stale, morbid abyss where Black Metal in its most purest forms wallow in the harrowing icy mists of hatred. Beastcraft are one of the best Norwegian bands around at the moment, they create the bleak brilliance of Darkthrone when they were at their most relevant back in the mid nineties. With all the rawness of, Under a Funeral Moon era Black Metal, Beastcraft
display a chilling aptitude for miasmic atmospheres. The two tracks here are separated into a short blasting tracks, and a more refined, yet equally violating all the laws of Moses with ease. The great title of, The Celebration of Christ’s Death, is pure genius. Orcrist, play a similar form of raw to the meat Black Metal, although maybe harnessing a greater willingness to diversify their musical repertoire. We have a droning, Strid like track, and a more Burzum set of rhythms adding greater depth and purpose to the EP. www.templeofdarknessrecords.com
Hordagaard ‘Anti Human, Anti Life’ ISO666
	This is a compilation of True Norwegian Black Metal from a one man aural blitzkrieg, he being one called, Fauk. This as ugly as it gets. A raw, paint by numbers rendition of cold, putrescent minimalism set to music. The agonizing vocals evoke the strained screeches of Burzum, the biting dissonant music manipulate the obscurity of the most unknown of underground acts. There is a priceless, untainted flavour to the simplicity of both the recording sound and the musical substance. Cold, Norwegian Black Metal is unleashed though invigorating guitars riffs, melodic arrangements and one mans tormented musical concept. There is a great Darkthrone/Isengard moment on the track, Nordmannen, where a
traditional Nordic folk theme is sung in both harsh and clean vocals. This may not be the most efficient, decent sounding release you’ll hear, but its certainly a corrosive piece of hellish music born from the very bowels of the underground. You just cant beat the likes, I must digress……. www.smokepit.net/~fauk | www.azermedoth.tk
Neetach ‘True Servants of Satan’ Sublife Productions
	Again, the talents of Dirge Rep and Vrangsiin, alongside Gidim Xul, appear on a Sublife Productions release, but where as the ponderous Secht, runs on its slow burning ode to desolation. Here we find an nightmarish Norwegian Black Metal album, following an old school path of the likes of Gorgoroth, Satyricon and Darkthrone. The album contains many levels of sustained darkly menace. Slow pondering tracks, seething with wretched atmospheres and caustic melodies sit alongside the rolling turbulence of fast, cutting Black Metal. The track, Tartaros [sworn]. Is an astounding low-fi epic, reeking of, Transylvanian Hunger, yet embodied with a greater purpose and deeper meaning.
Secht ‘Secht’ Sublife Productions
	Featuring one gargantuan 37.27 minute tracks and a horde of guests including, Nocturno Culto and Gaahl, bolstering the core line up of Dirge Rep [Gehenna, Gorgoroth, ] and Vrangsinn [Carpathian Forest, Hatepulse]. What's occurring in this lengthy Black Metal journey of utter despair is one of abject bleakness. The screeching nonsensical vocal mutterings give this one dimensional brooding musical statement its undeniable character, yet it could all have been done with in half the time. There is a blatant abandonment of subtleties, and every aspect of this singular arrangement is to veer not from the template of fast, slow, fast, slow.
This a work of two parts, one having the notoriety of its members, the other having a musical vision that does not equate the former in terms of greatness or depth of longevity. The same flaws are equally applied to the ensemble of Nordic guests that surrounded the not so lacklustre Department of Apocalyptic Affairs, by the once noteworthy, Fleurety. Here was another, albeit musically different attempt at creating a cold, conceptual piece of music. Secht, have awakened a dispassionate musical journey that strives to beget a deformed vision of ominous dread, yet ultimately fails.
Solefald ‘Black for Death – An Icelandic Odyssey Part II’ Season of Mist
	Solefald are in my top 100 list due to their astounding, Linear Scaffold pioneering album of 1997. Subsequent albums in the form of Neonism, Pills against the Ageless Ills and In Harmonies Universali, have seen Solefald tread water somewhat, having already jumped from the orthodox to the unorthodox on the debut. The core members, Cornelius and Lazare, have always imbued the band with intelligent lyrical themes and an almost unassailable musical vision that encompasses numerous vocal deliveries and an equal musical diversity. The post Black Metal evolutionary path of both Ulver and Arcturus can share a similar
expressive montage with Solefald, although here we are firmly anchored in the formers darkly roots than the total electronic complexities of the others. The title of this new release will give away the obvious fact that it is a follow up to the, Icelandic Odyssey Part 1, Red for Fire. There is little to distinguish the two in terms of the thick guitar sound maligned with bursts of Saxophone and Cello. From the serenity of the Metal edged music will appear a Jazz interlude, casting you into a smoke filled haze, where unpredictability is never far from the albums concept. The revolving sequence of harsh and clean male vocals and female vocals is followed by similar patterns of digestible and not so digestible musical arrangements. This dual vocal coupling of harsh and clean vocals along with a clean, polished production alludes to a Borknagar style of full bodied compositions, yet there is far more of the obscure, far more of the hot and cold, that runs through the meandering musical arrangements of Solefald. The title alludes to a Viking theme, but the music is far from any cohesive Viking metal formula, as a deliberately modern, almost contemporary sound keeps the whole virulent inner threads well clear from any dilated sense of musical perfection. If you know of, and more to the point enjoy the likes of Age of Silence, Vintersorg, Borknagar, Arcturus, and their contemporaries, this album will enrich your collection.
Svartskogg ‘Helvete 666’ Perish in Light Records 2005
	Here we have one of those albums that seemed to appear and disappear up its own arse, so to speak. A thrash retrospective paying homage to the mid eighties featuring a member from Massemord. This is not a new release, but I thought it needed some airing as it’s not a bad album. Like fellow Norwegians Inferno, Svartskogg pummel the snares and wank the guitar neck for all its worth, to create yet another rip roaring ‘Heard it all before’ thrashtastic album. You cannot fault the guitaring, the precision drum beats, the snarling vocal delivery, and the head slaying clarity of the production. Its just, like so many of these release, Destruction,
Testament, and Whiplash, done a better job first time round. If you live for the bullet belt clad icons of yesteryear, then albums such as this, are harmless fun and deserving of your attention. Just don’t take it all too seriously; I’m sure the band doesn’t.
Sykdom ‘Under Krigen’ BlackMetal.com Records 2006
	Starting with a track that hits you in the face with a full bodied impression of Ulvers classic, Bergtatt album, a wonderful echo from the past of a Garm like vocal harmonies set to a Viking themed musical journey. Unfortunately, the rest of the album seems to trip on its own strives to distance itself from the initial grasp of Nordic malevolence, although it does slightly find its feet again at the end with the rousing, Det Regner, with its almost Metallica like thrash mid section [though, the music does sound like early Amorphis] A myriad of outside influences begin to break though the following songs, with Destructions thrashy guitar licks, Celtic Frost’s plodding guitar rhythms, and a dose of Satyricons Dark
Medieval Times. To be fair, there are many fine moments on this album, and maybe the diversity of sounds and pace, gives it its character. Warm acoustic parts, devastating fast sections, all wrapped in a solid clean production does certainly allow this release to offer many flavours of extremity. Without having a central thread, the album runs off at different tangents, seeking to be too many genres at once, yet at times it works extremely well. All in all, this is a very well executed album, compressed with strong songs, and memorable compositions, even if they are culled from numerous musical origins..
Urgehal ‘Goatcraft Torment’ Agonia Records
	Spewing forth heinous ungodly Black Metal for since 1992, and featuring ex Kvist and current Vulture Lords members. Here we have a raging Satanic metal machine, well oiled and completely at ease with their iniquitous art. The buzzsaw guitars rip along at a frenzied pace, projecting a deathly pale image of ashen grimness that bleeds from the gnarled vocals and wretched nature of the production. Its all driven at you with a remorseless frozen guile, resolute in darkly morose and Nordic hauteur. The tracks follow a well carved path through the fast, slow formula, with some great melodic riffs littered across the 10 tracks, and clocking in at over 51 minutes, there’s a lot
of fetid regurgitated Black Metal to demolish the senses. Here lies the albums flaws, for there is absolutely nothing we haven’t heard before, nothing remotely different from the same all guns blazing, desolate low-fi chill found on virtually every other orthodox Black Metal bands releases. The fact Urgehal do what they do seamlessly, have a well respected [and deserved] status in the scene, gives this offering at least a head start on its numerous competitors.