One of the most convincing syntheses of noise and black metal this reviewer has ever heard, this album blends throughout all of its length atonal phrasings on the synthesiser with quasi-melodic down-tuned guitar and nebulous bass passages, with a demented vocalist throwing up some vocals here and there and a drummer on amphetamines. Song structures are unimportant, the concept of the album as a whole makes much more sense. Four invocations open the listening session, ‘Tending Thy Grounds’ expands this band’s sonic outlook in a leisurely way, the title-track is a weird industrial march that offers respite from the ravishing blizzard elsewhere, and more chaos follows as the rest of the music speeds by. Expecting another Burzum clone will result in disappointment, listeners with an appreciation of original art will at least applaud the effort.

This demo tape by Twilight consists of three fairly long ambient music tracks, probably composed in the spirit of Burzum’s latter albums but sounding more reminiscent to Summoning’s classic ‘Minas Morgul’, excepting the layered patterning and overall structure of the music. Some fairly good themes are presented but any lasting effect they have is marred by unnecessarily long meandering on keyboards, a preponderance of honky-tonk organ timbres and inadequate vocal lines. Most often this kind of music would function adequately on low volume while other activities are being carried out, as there is no development throughout songs and thus no great focus on the listener’s part is required.

On this album, Tsjuder explicitly make music for all those people still missing the good old days of prime Darkthrone and Isvind. The music on ‘Kill For Satan’ is raw, simple, brutal black metal performed with buzzing conviction and tightness, a blizzard of vicious angular riffing, hoarse distorted screaming and the ever-present blast-beats or fast thrashing, sometimes bringing to mind early Immortal or even Krieg. Riffs are generally simple but composed in an interesting way, with cyclic recurrence of motifs being an important part of the song. Thus a certain riff may metamorphose almost completely within the space of one song, as in ‘Necromancy’ and ‘Dying Spirits’. Minor variations in drum rhythm also aids in this- the drummer is mathematical and precise, almost giving the impression of a machine, ‘Sodomizing The Lamb’ perfectly exemplifies this. The only relatively slower part comes at the beginning of ‘The Lord Of Terror’, but the mood is suddenly obliterated by a fast blasting part and the album remains that way till the end. ‘Raping Christianity’ is another song that deserves attention, featuring a high chord progression unique for the album. Unfortunately, it is way too short for the material to be developed. A small noise section separates these songs from the ‘Kill For Satan’ trilogy with which the album ends. The first part (which is the title-track) starts with a rebounding riff over which rabid vocals enter, reappearing at about two minutes from the end of the song, making it quite effective in simplicity. ‘Beyond The Grave’ ensues with severely simple riffing and is an extremely fitting closer. As far as production goes, this is a pretty good effort, since everything can be heard without difficulty.

After their excellent ‘Kill For Satan’ on the same label some four years previously; a great return was expected from Tsjuder. Alas, this was not to be so- ‘Demonic Possession’ sounds far inferior to the preceding album. Tsjuder press all the right buttons, yet this time around it sounds dry, sterile, and worst of all, automatic. Musicianship is in fine shape, especially as regards the drummer from Ragnarok, but this record doesn’t cut it in terms of interesting or passionate music, or, hell, at least even sheer catchiness like the one before it.

The Shadow Order hail from Greece and are, in the reviewer’s experience, one of the very best contemporary exponents from the country, given that most of the former luminaries have either stopped playing or are else churning out melodic rock. The sound, however, owes little to the mystical atmosphere expressed by Varathron and the like; instead, it sounds like what Darkthrone would play today had they remained as focused as they had been on ‘Under A Funeral Moon’. Second song ‘In The Arms Of Lethe ‘is exemplary to all bands of this ilk in its exposition of varying textures yet unequivocal simplicity. As if the excellent black metal wasn’t enough, The Shadow Order present a substantial outro of sublime pagan folk-ambient. Finally, The Shadow Order’s comments in the liner notes are particularly inspiring.

Grom is another interesting band, but which may not appeal to quite a few people’s taste- playing a bastardised style of black metal with Oi! and RAC excursions. An introduction tells of how Alexander the Great conquered the world of his time, then come four songs with adequate production and interesting music. ‘Pan, Lord Of The Woods’ is a groove-heavy song with hand-held percussion adorning the rhythm, while ‘Hellenic Warspirit’ veers from extreme blasting black metal to vehement nationalistic rock to Slayer-worshipping thrash, then back again to where it all started.

Many full-length splits feature an amazing band and one which is not quite of the same calibre- yet this is not the case here. Both bands show intelligence in song concept and construction. This album stands out from a sea of useless post-2000 metal- also worth supporting is the fact that a part of the proceedings goes to support The Golden Dawn Of Hellas. For more information, contact Pagan Nations Rising, PO Box 270, Wingdale, New York 12594, USA.

This album is an old school, one-man black metal project done by the mastermind behind the Hellenic Macabre Omen. Not recognisable as the normal Greek black metal sound, this is rawer and closer to Finnish black metal as composition is concerned, but buried melody gives an essential character to the music. Vocals usually vary from heavily reverberating growls to short and clean narratives, with no screaming except for the occasional snarl. Guitars are basically melodic if one can listen beyond the noise, sometimes even in the traditional Greek sense such as Rotting Christ. The bass is very evident, sometimes sounding like grindcore vocals in its intensity; drums are for the most part inaudible (especially the bass and snare), and when not, they have far too many accents and are a bit clumsy. The tracks are old, being written in 1998 and 1999 and only recorded in 2003.

The music is utterly absorbing. ‘Undying’ lapses between ambient, uncannily musical black metal parts with chanted vocals to an almost Varathron-like speed-black atmosphere. In contrast, ‘Thou Art None’ is a strange, full-speed ahead creation which gradually changes into a fast Bathory-esque piece with ethereal whining lead guitar. ‘I Am The One’ is viscous and grim, for the most part static, with a beautifully melodic solo being the highlight. The last track is ghostly ambient music. Production is horrible- garage at best, sub-aquatic at worst, the final result being like a large but blurred composition, not unlike an oil painting. To recapitulate on this analogy, the whole thing benefits and sounds good because of this initially irritating fact. One thing the reviewer found out is that, regressive and superficially simple as though this sound may be, it does take a few listens to start understanding the proceedings, and then every minute of listening is repaid doubly. Recommended for those people who are searching a unique black metal sound inspired by the old bands.

This EP preceded the Stalaggh full-length, and one can expect nothing but the same kind of stuff- tortured improvisatory frameworks full of screams, patternless beats and random chords. No instrument is used in a conventional way and of course one can forget any song writing. Comparisons to Abruptum are unnecessary, since a strong industrial edge are much more evident in Stalaggh resulting a quite different atmosphere. Nothing unique in way of artwork, it’s the same as on the full-length album.

This new project is in many ways a progression from the previous release, ‘Projekt Nihil’, perhaps most noticeable this time round is the darker, more industrial vibe emanating from the process. However, ‘PT’ is not at all a new direction for Stalaggh- the noisy analogue static is still there; and the insane scratching and throat-shredding too (multiplied hundredfold)- three vocalists (including a female) improvise sounds of lunacy as other instruments (and no less than two drum kits) fill in and adorn the half-hour session. Dissonant frequencies collide amongst irrationally distorted vocals, sometimes guitar chords are actually heard clearly, and rarely one also imagines definite semi-melodies underneath the colossal quantities of feedback. Of course, the notion of music is basically insignificant here, though the process does sometimes take on explicit shape- sometimes with just a barely rhythmic percussive patter, sometimes resembling a black metal band from the recesses of the underground rehearsing their guts out. Stalaggh are to music what Duchamp was to sculpture, and anti-establishment or destabilizing forms of expression are never to be overlooked in a disgustingly egalitarian society such as the one we are living in.

This album solely consists of surrealist (and some may argue pointless) organic noise in the vein of Abruptum’s blackened classic ‘In Umbra’. Dual or triple (?) vocals (sometimes electronically processed) sound like a wounded animal, yelping and howling for pain to stop, to no avail. A constant tapping or scratching on the drum kit creates a disorienting effect, especially the vaguely rhythmic crashing on various types of cymbals to create ominous funeral marching, which sometimes get a bit too much to stand. Apart from the vocals, one of the main elements in Stalaggh is the continuous electronic feedback, sometimes descending to a constant low throbbing giving a bass-heavy effect, and sometimes rising to envelope all the other instruments in swathes of sweeping noise. Guitars are never used in a conventional way, except if it comes to producing loud jarring chords and annoying fret scratching. Of course that is probably the point – though the average listener will be alienated because of a seeming lack in variation present.

Seigneur Voland may not be any veteran band (their earliest material seemingly dates back to 1999, with some connections to the older French band Funeral), but they surely know how to make their hate-fuelled metal grim and raw-sounding. The production is (maybe as expected) nothing to write home about, and sometimes the whole recitation is drowned in a sea of guitar reverberation and admittedly clumsy drumming, but otherwise this is a very good example of the French black metal school as exemplified by ‘Les Legions Noire’, transposing the Darkthrone formula upon a more, so to say, ‘neo-romantic’ template, with gloomy melodic guitars expressing immensely melancholic feelings. The only objection is the meagre duration of the CD – four proper tracks totalling twelve minutes, and a five-minute noise outro which gets on the nerves.