Ernest Hemingway once said "All things truly wicked start from innocence." Hunter S Thompson once said "For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled." Being that both of these literary giants were the predominant lyrical influence on Cobalt's 3rd full length, I find these quotes to sum up the album perfectly. Cobalt is made up of multi-instrumentalist Erik Wunder and singer/guitarist Phil McSorely. Both hailed from Colorado, but as of right now Erik find his home in New York city and Phil is right now going where ever the Army takes him. That's right, Phil McSorely is a military officer (a Sergeant to be exact). And in today's times of constant war, being in the Army can surely take it's toll on anyone both physically and mentally (hence the Thompson quote). But, more importantly, these two are leading the way in the fairly new American Black Metal Scene (sometimes called post-black metal, sometimes called American Wave). Gin is quite the aural exploration, even at only 8 tracks (technically there are 61, but all but the last of those extra tracks are silent, and the last track is just a few samples being played together). The album starts off with the title track, and one of Hemmingway's favorite drinks: Gin. As I'm not an avid reader, let alone an avid reader of Hemmingway or Thompson, I really have no idea where the lyrics are going with this album. They toy with ideas of Nietzsche, broken relationships, and likely some metaphors. The music is black metal-esque, but would likely not be called TRVE enough for the folks who only listen to bands that sound like Funeral Mist. But if you like your Black Metal to be different, somewhat uncomfortable, and you don't need to hear constant blast beats and tremelo picking then Gin is the album for you. I give it a 8/10 for music, and a 9/10 for artwork. Very cool album and one of my favorites out of the dozen or so CD's that I bought in the past month or two.
Altar of Plagues hails from the not so black metal Ireland, and offer up White Tomb as their first full length. Musically White Tomb is very atmospheric, and will catch the ears of fans of Wolves in the Throne Room (whose review is coming up). The album has 4 tracks, usually spanning around the 10 min plus mark, but is not littered with sprawling guitar noises as is often evident with bands labeled as "atmospheric". Simply put, this band gets their point across with their music in such a way that you are taken in by the atmosphere of the sound. As I mentioned before, they are much like WITTR, and as such one can expect ripping guitars, perpetual blast beats, and traditional but not generic black metal vocals. Clearly they've taken much inspiration from Darkthrone and Burzum with their melodic yet minimalistic approach to blackness, but also have their moments of Khante-like blackened doom. The album, I believe, is lyrically about nature being pissed, and of course some other depressive themes. Thankfully they stay original enough to not just be a WITTR knock-off. Fans of the fore mentioned black metal bands, and even bands like Year of No Light should enjoy this album greatly. I give it a 9/10 because it's a really palatable version of so many other black metal styles. It's like the pu-pu platter of black metal. But, just like a pu-pu platter, there's a sauce that ties it all together so it's not just a disjointed mess. For White Tomb it's the fact that they move so fluidly from one style to another, the melodies are very memorable, and the music is just uncomfortable enough to gain your interest in the obvious inspirations. I give the artwork a 5/10 for being kinda generic. Powerlines amongst clouds in that almost sepia tone is sort of played out. I think Godspeed You! Black Emperor did that back on F#A# ∞.
Wolves in the Throne room are America's blackest beacon of a burgeoning black metal state-side scene. Up until now we really haven't offered that much when it comes to relevant black metal. But even some CVLT Norwegians think WITTR are cool. And how could you not? There's no synths gaying anything up (early Emperor aside), no over production, thick guitars constantly set on double-picking, and what can only be described as landscapes of melodic black metal. WITTR do us proud again on Black Cascade. Though production is a little better, and their moniker has since become less enigmatic, we get more of the same from these eco-friendly Americans. The only issue I have with the album is the overall lack of tempo change which causes these 10minute plus songs to become a little indiscernible, although still enjoyable. For that I give the music a 6/10. The artwork is very cool to look at, even if I don't know what I'm looking at, so I give it a 8/10.
Armada by Norway's own Keep of Kalessin was definitely the shocker out of all the black metal albums I got, mostly because it was starkly different then what I expected from a Norwegian black metal band. That's not to say KoK isn't a black metal band, but after their two break ups, band leader and guitarist Obsidian C decided to also dabble in a little bit of thrash and power metal. Now, if one were to try and label the band you'd see KoK devotees shouting that they are Blackend Thrash while fans of their original line up screaming about them selling out like so many other black metal bands before them. As a side note, selling out in the black metal world usually consists of beyond basement recording studio production, introducing any clean-sounding vocals, or simply not having your new album sound like any of your former, "Trver" black metal attempts; as was the case with Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon, and many others. Black metal fans can be a fickle and unforgiving crowd. But even I was shocked when listening to Armada. It's not a bad album, but it's not what I had in mind after I was told by many of my friends that KoK were the shit (they were of course referring to earlier recordings like Through Times of War). There are still many black metal elements, some of the fastest drumming I've heard, great guitar parts, and most of the melodies are even memorable. Fans of the black metal bands generally labeled as sell outs will surely enjoy this CD. And I would expect some of the stricter fans of BM to enjoy a select few tracks while skipping over less black songs like "many are we" with it's "let's all work together to fight for this cause" lyrics. On Armada, KoK toy with more "viking metal" themes then the anti-christian ones usually attributed to BM, and create epic sagas about winning wars and such. To their credit the album doesn't get repetitious and boring, but some of the middle tracks won't be making their way onto anyone's "blackest black metal of satan hell fuck death" play lists anytime soon. For getting kinda lame in the middle of the album (and as a testament to how strong the other tracks are) I give the music a 6/10, and the artwork a 6/10 for being kind of cool but too "300" to be original. Plus, what ever happened to their cool ass moniker? Now they're using some normal script, which is no where near as bad ass. Black Metal monikers ist krieg.
Black metal giants, and uber anti-christians Marduk unleashed Wormwood on us in 2009 with a penchant for disgusting black metal sludgerry over top of their former, and aptly titled, panzer-style metal. If you thought Panzer Division Marduk was absolutely perfect, and didn't get monotonous with it's one constant christ-rapping speed then you will likely not dig this album much. If however you felt that era of Marduk to be lacking distinguishing features, and Rom 5:12 caught your interest, then Wormwood will be right up your black alley. It still has it's moments of pure blast beating bad assery, but they don't shy from slowing it down a little bit to allow Mortuus to do his thing (his thing being Attila style noise making). Overall I think this is one of the best performances Mortuus has had with Marduk, like he is actually comfortable with being in the band and is no longer the "new guy". Not that he likely ever had feelings of being the "new guy", cause after all he is Arioch from Funeral Mist, but I'm sure there's some amount of coming into your own that had to of occurred. This reinvented Marduk is in my opinion their strongest form yet. And the stellar production does not take away from the albums "trveness". Bass lines are thick and present (listen to that tasty groove in As a Garment. That's right, a tasty black metal bass line), guitar wails and buzzes, the drums percuss precisely, and Mortuus's vocals are just damning. A Chorus of Cracking Necks has to be one of my favorite tracks, and perfectly exemplifies their new direction. The only thing this album is guilty of is feeling too short. But that just means I'll have to spin it again. I give the music on the album a 8/10, and the artwork a 7/10 for being exactly what I expected from Marduk: Grimy, somewhat perverse, and blasphemic.
Krallice are from New York city and contain (amongst other players) masterful guitarist Mick Barr and the man of many bands Colin Marston, who generally plays bass or a warr guitar in his other outfits, but can be found playing a guitar here. This is their self-titled album that I picked up and not their newer cut. I got this one because I heard it was the better of the two, and what better way to introduce yourself to a new band then to pick up their best work. And what a work it is. While it's definitely not pure black metal, it keeps in the same template. There are blast beats, double picking, screeching vocals, musical landscapes are made, but there's something strange here: harmony. It's a little weird to hear two guitars and a bass harmonizing with each other instead of just all playing the same thing when listening to black metal. That's what makes Krallice a little more experimental then kvlt black metallist are likely to enjoy. The guitar parts are more mesmerizing then they are frost-bitten, and a certain level of open mindedness will be needed to fully enjoy this epic album. But truly what's more black metal then pushing the envelope? Were not the first black metal bands striving to play a different style of death metal? So kudos to Krallice (and some of the other bands on this list) for not just churning out another A Blaze in the Northern Sky copy. I give this album a 7/10 for being original, but somewhat trying on the ears. It's not likely an album you can just pick up and listen to. It will require some amount of thinking. The artwork gets a 6/10 cause there's nothing that special about it.
So the final overall tally of music + album art winds up being:
Cobalt- Gin: 17/20
Altar of Plagues- White Tomb: 14/20
Wolves in the Throne Room- Black Cascade: 14/20
Keep of Kalessin- Armada: 12/20
Marduk- Wormwood: 15/20
Krallice- S/T: 13/20
Despite the numbers, because they of course reflect album art and not how listenable each album is, I'd have to say that Altar of Plagues' White Tomb was my favorite, followed by Cobalt's Gin. I highly recommend picking up these albums to anyone who enjoys metal. Even if you're not totally into black metal, you'll likely still enjoy these albums.
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