Invertia – Another Scheme of the Wicked

Posted on May 29, 2014 by News Team

A band like Invertia doesn’t come along every day. Very few bands today make music that is both challenging and challenging to the listener. Uncommon in style and mentality, the band is more like a force to be felt all over the senses, rather than just music to be heard. When we last heard from the band a year ago the creators of “Oppressive Industrial Black Metal” as they term themselves had just released their excellent debut. They have returned with their new album, Another Scheme For The Wicked (Ohm Resistance) with a leaner, meaner collection that shows the growth of this discordant, unhinged pair from New England.

Split between five originals and five remixes, Another Scheme for the Wicked has quality where it may lack a bit in quantity. The opening track ‘The Sidewinding’ is by far the best track in their existence; full of menacing riffs that would make Ihsahn blush, a phenomenal use of stop-start dynamics. There is also a great batch of samples in this track, and I won’t soon hear the line “Jesus is about to come…” the same way again. Second track “Cross Eyed Christ” blends machine gun beats with the best of avant-garde angular riffs. Dave Coppola has created some of the most inventive licks we have heard this year and his scowling maw unleashes some sick gutturals. Drummer Tim Winson keeps things uptempo for the most part and intense bringing in the electronics and beats. ‘Void of Community’ and ‘Hourglass Without Sand’ are a crazy amalgam of brutally and sublime writing. ‘They’re Everywhere’ sounds a lot more raw and lo-fi, like the work on their earlier efforts, despite the 300 bpm tempo and more howling vocals.

The real surprise comes with the remixes. The opening track is recast by none other than Justin K. Broadrick of Godflesh and Jesu. He is an inspired choice. The band clearly takes some of its cues from Broadrick and for his lot, he totally re-imagines the track into a new experience. Laconic and dreamy- it sounds like an out take from a David Lynch film, replete with slowed down to a crawl vocals. It also says a lot about this band that Broadrick would work with them, as he doesn’t give this treat ment to just anyone. Other re-mixers, big names from the Ohm Resistance label and the electronic underground such as End.user and R3TRD, have solid results too. Special note also goes to the post-apocalyptic sounds of Submerged’s remix of ‘Hourglass Without Sand’.

8.5

Invertia on Facebook

KEITH (KEEFY) CHACHKES

Impetuous Ritual – Unholy Congregation Of Hypocritical Ambivalence

Posted on May 28, 2014 by News Team

Even in underground terms, Ignis Fatuus is hardly a recognisable name, but as drummer for Portal, Grave Upheaval and Impetuous Ritual, the black-hooded Australian is at the cutting edge of Death Metal’s abstract progression into something closer to Noise and Dark Ambient. 2013 was the year when that style – finally picking up the baton of discordance laid down by Gorguts in the late 90’s – exploded, with Portal’s Vexovoid among its most exciting releases.

On first listen, Impetuous Ritual are by far the most “normal” of the Fatuus hat-trick, with recognisable riffs and a surging, chaotic Black/Death Metal approach that owes more than a little to bands like Blasphemy and Diocletian. After Portal’s deceptively eloquent Noise-as-Art abstractions and Grave Upheaval’s transformation of death metal into utterly monolithic, lightless ambient soundscapes, IR’s second album almost seems a let-down – generic noisy Death Metal that we’ve heard before. Perseverance, however, is rewarded, and Impetuous Ritual are revealed not merely as a half-way point between their more obvious siblings, but as a band equally worthy in their own right.

What raises Unholy Congregation… (Profound Lore) beyond the generic clatter-clatter-bang is the structure of the album, which leads the listener from relatively conventional chaotic Death Metal into tracks that combine the abstract, distorted qualities of Fatuus’ other bands with the destructive fury of Antediluvian. The first three tracks rips through a powerful but familiar swamp of riffs and blasts before Despair splits itself into a more atmospheric – even ambient – piece reminiscent of the last Grave Upheaval album, and from there the album opens into something much stranger and more diverse, yet always feels like a consistent, complete album.

People who find this style of cavernous, eldritch Death Metal too chaotic and lacking in melody are still not going to be happy with Unholy Congregation…, but this is a master-class in how to make Death Metal which embraces the more abstract side of the genre without losing sight of its riff-based roots, and prove that Transdimensional Ancient Squid Death Metal isn’t a dead trend yet.

9/10

Impetuous Ritual on Facebook

RICHARD HR

Dornenreich – Freiheit

Posted on May 16, 2014 by News Team

For those people who have never ventured into the discography of Dornenreich before, their albums may come as a surprise to the uneducated ear. Unlike the standard distorted guitars that fill the space of most metal songs, Dornenreich have chosen with Freiheit (Prophecy Promotions) to center round an acoustic topped with long passages teased out on violin. For a band that have forged a career walking so readily on the fringes of metal, this album is perhaps the most distinct departure from anything that really resembles a traditional metal sound. With only one flurry of aggression in ‘Das Licht vertraut der Nacht’, the album keeps a steady pace, focusing instead on including a myriad of folk influences.

Even so, Freiheit does not welcome the listener in easily, the songs draw you in layers of atmosphere but can often seem disjointed and patched together. This album walks the delicate balance between moments of beauty and extreme indecision with melodies punctuated by unexpected moments of silence. It doesn’t quite contain the refinement that bands like Alcest manage, but there is no denying the sheer intensity and emotional energy behind these tracks. Although the musical path may not always be easy to follow this album is more than worth the work for anyone willing to give it a chance.

The past eighteen years may have been nothing short of prolific, but it seems that this will be the last album we see from Dornenreich for some time, with Eviga announcing that their eight-studio album is the end of a journey for the band with no real idea whether they will return. One thing seems certain though, if they do, they are unlikely to be the same beast that departed here.

7/10

Dornenreich on Facebook

CAITLIN SMITH

Behavioral Science – Rae Amitay of Immortal Bird

Posted on May 8, 2014 by News Team

Immortal Bird may come from Chicago, but to listen to them you might think they looked out their back window and lay witness to a misty, frozen fjord. Playing a strain of modern black and death metal with other style elements mixed in, combined with striking production values heard too little from this scene they are making an impact. Having played mainly around Chicago, their did a brief US tour this winter to support their debut EP Akrasia (Closed Casket Recordings). We caught up with front woman and group mastermind Rae Amitay after their tour stop in Worcester, MA for an interview.

How is the tour going?

“The tour is going great! I’m really happy with how everything’s been playing out. We’re really getting into the swing of things now, and I’ve gotten to see a lot of friends.”

How do you feel about the response the EP has gotten so far? “

It’s been pretty amazing, and I feel really good about it. You never know how people are going to react, especially to a brand new band with no point of reference, so receiving such overwhelmingly positive feedback is a relief of sorts. I’m sure we’ll get a scathing review at some point, but ideally there will be some sort of constructive criticism hidden amidst the evisceration! I’m glad people are finding something to connect with in our music.”

What is concept behind Akrasia?

“It’s not a concept album exactly, but most of the lyrics deal with the emotional repercussions of acting against one’s better judgment. That’s what ‘akrasia’ is – weakness of will – so a lot of the music explores that side of human behavior.”

Did you develop the concept and the lyrics, or the music first?

“The music came first. Then as I was writing lyrics I started noticing some common themes, and ‘akrasia’ seemed to be the perfect word to describe the overarching message.”

Did you always envision being the front woman for this project and did you have any reservations about doing it?

“I always knew I’d record the vocals for Immortal Bird, but I wasn’t sure about it ever becoming a live project until later on in the writing process. I had a few reservations, because I didn’t want us to get pigeonholed by the whole ‘female-fronted’ thing. I hate even mentioning it, honestly, because it’s so irrelevant to everything this band is about. It can be frustrating, and at times I thought I didn’t want to go through the hassle of explaining that ‘female-fronted’ is not a genre tag. Aside from a few lazy write-ups that felt compelled to repeatedly mention my gender/appearance while writing about our music, I have very few complaints.”

You had a dream team of metal production gods working with you on this album. How did you get connected with Jeff Ziolo, Kurt Ballou and Brad Boatright?

“Jeff came recommended to us by our live drummer, Garry Naples (Novembers Doom/Without Waves). He was a pleasure to work with and he put in a ton of hours to make sure we had a product we felt strongly about. I’d always wanted to work with Kurt and Brad, and they’re a dynamic duo of mixing/mastering, so I just went ahead and asked! I’m grateful that they took us on. I don’t think it’s the last time we’ll be working with them. Their body of work is incredible, and I still have moments where I’m incredulous that Immortal Bird’s debut EP was placed in such gifted hands. Having personnel of that caliber involved really sets the bar high for our next record!”

Other than the Chicago connection, how did Garry come into the project?

“Garry is a good friend of mine, and he plays drums for damn near everyone in Chicago. I’d seen him play with a bunch of different bands, and it was clear to me that he could breathe new life into our material playing it live. It’s also quite beneficial to our dynamic that he and John Picillo (bass) are in another band together called Without Waves. They’ve been a rhythm section for almost a decade, and it shows. They’re completely locked in with one another, and it’s an incredibly important variable that brings our performances to a higher level.”

This is a return of sorts for you, coming back to the Boston area fronting your own band, as opposed to playing with others. Does this bring up any emotions for you?

“Only good ones! In the past, I’ve been a hired gun. It’s an entirely different set of emotions to be on the road with a band that I created. Seeing so many friends tonight means more than I can say. Even though I live in Chicago now, this feels like ‘home’ to me.”

Aside from Immortal Bird most people associate you with Thrawsunblat. What is going on in that camp?

“Thrawsunblat is alive and well! We’re currently writing and plotting for our third full-length. That’s all I can say for now, but yeah, there is a bunch going on!”

One thing that really stands out about you the most is your talent. The novelty of women leading black and death metal bands is well over, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t idiots out there. Have you had to deal with any knuckle heads so far in your career?

“Oh, of course! People haven’t been nasty so much as they’ve been rude, haha. Guys have come up to me and said, “I thought your band was gonna suck because you’re a girl, but you were actually really good.” I think that’s meant as a weird backhanded sexist compliment, but moments like that make me hope that the person in question is not planning on reproducing. There was also a guy who suggested “less screaming and less clothing.” That was more blatantly knuckle-headed, and I suggested “less speaking and less breathing”. He wasn’t amused.”

Outside of music what are some of your hobbies you wish you had more time for?”

Frolicking with puppies. Seriously. I would love to have a dog, but with my lofty touring goals, it’s not going to be possible for a few years at least. I also wish I had more time for non-music writing. I get so preoccupied working on new songs that I don’t really have a ton of time to jot down words.

Immortal Bird on Facebook

Words: KEITH CHACHKES

Live photos: HILLARIE JASON PHOTOGRAPHY

Cradle of Filth – Total Fucking Darkness

Posted on May 6, 2014 by News Team

Before they became the black metal equivalent of marmite, Cradle of Filth, arguably the UK’s most commercially successful and controversial export since Adam Ant, were just like any other bunch of skinny teenagers who made an ungodly racket in their mum’s garage and dreamed of hitting the big time. Unlike most kids their age however, they did actually make it, and the demo in question, 1993’s semi-legendary Total Fucking Darkness not only inspired a host of imitators, but proved it wasn’t just the Norwegians who had the monopoly on corpse-paint and blasting for Satan.

Now re-issued with several bonus tracks and re-recordings, Total Fucking Darkness sounds as different to Cradle’s current polished output as it’s possible to get, and that isn’t just due to the abysmal recording quality. While black metal elitists love to sneer at the sextet and claim that they aren’t grim/trve/kvlt enough, the truth is that in the early 90s, Cradle were embedded deep in the underground, had the approval of Euronymous, and were bashing out brutally heavy compositions with sickening lyrical content, with the feral ‘Spattered in Faeces’ a prime example.

Two early versions of future Principle of Evil Made Flesh classic ‘The Black Goddess Rises’ show just how much the songwriting improved before the recording of that seminal debut while others which didn’t make the cut such as ‘Unbridled at Dusk’ and ‘The Raping of Faith’ show a band hungry to prove their worth as the aggressive riffs and suffocating keyboards pile on the intensity creating a Gothic, slightly depraved and quintessentially English atmosphere. Oh, and for such a small guy, Dani roars and screams with more power and passion than most vocalists you could care to mention.

Not essential by any means, but a worthy reminder of where Cradle came from and how important they are. You could almost say they’re a national treasure…

7/10

Cradle of Filth on Facebook

JAMES CONWAY

Keeping It Real- Vincent Hausman of Howl

Posted on April 17, 2014 by News Team

One of the best bands in recent memory, Howl is a band, despite some critical success and fan respect, is still a bit under the radar. They may not be top of mind to some when you talk about the major American metal bands, but they certainly deserve you attention with their abrasive blend of sludge, doom and other influences. Following up their full length debut Full of Hell in, the band released Bloodlines (Relapse) almost a year ago. Vincent (Vince) Hausman chatted with Ghost Cult about the maturation process of this brutal band, and glimpse of what Howl is capable of next.

Out for almost a year now, Bloodlines marked some slight changes in the writing tenor of the band who rode the wave of Full of Hell’s doom and crust leanings:

“We wanted to challenge ourselves musically and lyrically. We wanted a more aggressive record. We wanted a more modern sound as well, since we didn’t want to make the same album twice. I think another difference was that we wanted to approach the song writing a little more differently. We tried to give songs more individual character or atmospheres or flavors, as opposed to just piling on riffs. Which I think that worked great for Full of Hell, and there is definitely something to that. But we wanted to make the sound of Bloodlines a little bit more distinct from each other. Overall a more aggressive heavy metal record, as opposed to just a doom/sludge record. That was the big difference, in terms of approach, intent and purpose on Bloodlines.”

“Ultimately we’re a band, that doesn’t over analyze things too much. We’re not trying to make a classic rock, or too going experimental either. We are a metal band. We wanted to write metal record and we wanted to write a metal record when we did Full of Hell, too. We always want to hear a certain consistency and have a definite “Howl sound”, even as the band may continue to develop and evolve.”

Some of the development from the album came from the lineup changes that brought new song writing chemistry: “It’s great to be working with Josh (Durocher-Jones), who joined us for the writing of Bloodlines, especially in the lead department. I think his contributions added a lot of texture and variety to the record. Most of all his style of working helped us stay on task a little bit better, when we were in the basement of our drummers house, in our pjs, essentially writing the record. (laughs) Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but they were really metal pj’s. (laughs)”

Although at times Hausman has put down his axe just to scream on a song or two in his career, he has transitioned to smoothly to full-time front man now.

“We’re touring now where with me just doing vocals, and we brought on our buddy Jonathan (Hall) in to play second guitar. What we discovered in the writing of Bloodlines, the vocals are more varied, there’s a lot more of them, and they’re all over the place in terms of style. So in order for me to do them justice live, we decided that it would be more effective to focus on the vocals and just be the front man. We wanted to make sure the musical chops get what they deserve too. I wrote a lot of the material and I will continue to do that. But I am also at a point in my career where I am ready to welcome some outside influences, and collaborating with other people. So bringing Josh and Jonathan in has been a key step in doing that. I feel like I will come into my own, like never before in terms of the vocal duties. We can put on a hell of a show, and this is the best lineup yet from the band. The other dudes in the band are great musicians and great performers too. It’s been really fun.”

One of the biggest changes from album to album, that point to the growth of this band is the move into new lyrical terrain for Hausman: “There is some personal shit in there, but I also leave things for people to interpret for themselves and find meaning. I got an email the other day from this guy, even though we are beer drinkers, this guy was struggling to overcome addiction and got inspiration and help from our lyrics, and from the album which I thought was really awesome. That is not necarilly what I wrote about, but it’s cool that he was able to interpret and extract from that, to find a meaning. So I really welcome that. At the same time, heavy metal for me, hasn’t been so much about fantasy, about wizards and dragons. It’s cool it that’s your thing, but it’s not for me. I got into heavy metal because I was pissed off and and didn’t understand a lot of things. I didn’t like people telling me how to be, how to dress, and how to feel. I didn’t like being told what to do, how they were going to define my sexuality for me. So I found a community of people, and an outlet musically that I connected with. When it’s my turn to write the lyrics, I like to keep it real too. I can’t write about unicorns and goats. That doesn’t really do it for me. When you read the lyrics back from Bloodlines, it will be a reaction to a lot about what is going on in the world.”

“One example is there will always be the hypocrisy of organized religious institutions. For example people, like the catholic church, who always preached morality and from a doctrine of fear, telling people who they can and can’t love. All the while, shielding each other from being prosecuted for pedophilia. That’s really fucked up world that we live in a word like that. That is kind of the stuff you will find backing my lyrics as well.”

While it’s not an obvious influence on the band, the legendary Providence underground music and art scene definitely played a part in the evolution of the character of the band, at least in subtle ways.

“I don’t know if you can hear it in our music, because Howl is not very artsy, or experimental. Obviously, Providence has a thriving experimental art scene. It’s been great to play with vast array of bands that do different shit. It’s been a hotbed for music and performers for years, so it’s kind of underrated. On the other hand, it’s been a well-kept secret in New England for years, so that’s cool too. Our bass player Jesse is playing in a black metal project called Sire, and that’s a band to keep an eye on.”

Howl on Facebook

Keith (Keefy) Chachkes

Ormgård – Ormblot

Posted on April 15, 2014 by News Team

Originally released on tape in 2011, Ormgård are re-releasing the Ormblot demo on CD, via Forever Plagued Records. Ormblot was praised a lot within the black metal underground scene and the band itself was hysterically compared with black metal monsters such as Emperor.

Including three ambient songs and three black metal songs, the entire work is so 1990s that’s hard to think it’s only three years old. The ambient songs instantly put me somewhere between 1993 and 1995 when great projects like Mortiis or Satyr’s Wongraven were born. Of course, they don’t deliver ambient songs with forty minutes, but the ancient essence is so there: it’s slow and cold with dark ruined corridors on sight. The title-track profoundly embraced me with its very slow pace and with its compassed bells tolling that I even jumped on my chair when the ‘Hugsad’ track begun with the frozen and hostile guitar riffs. Hailing from Sweden, a country that has a well settled and modern black metal movement, but the band’s sound is so Germanic featuring fast yet melodic riffs combined with a wall of simple orchestrations that reach our ears through the keyboards. However, there is another characteristic that easily leads me to Finland because of the high-pitched vocals which may remind me a whole bunch of black metal acts.

The gelid landscapes are brought by songs like ‘Av Svartkonst & Fördärv’ which is the most demonic one in the demo. Telling a story about sorcery, Orm goes far and mixes the concept with the evilness of demons, being Satan the center of it all.

In sum, it’s hard for me to say this is really an iconic item. Yes, it’s worthy to listen, especially because of the ambient tracks and because of the 1990s spirit – now and then I still check the date and I figure out it’s a 2011 demo. Nowadays, I don’t really know what Orm wants to do, but according to the 2012 album, titled ////\, it seems black metal isn’t a priority as we have a dark ambient full-length.

7.0/10

Ormgård on Facebook

Diogo Ferreira

Guest Post: Davide Tiso on Gospel of The Witches

Posted on April 11, 2014 by News Team

Ghost Cult is honored today to bring you an exclusive message from Davide Tiso, known for his work with Ephel Duath. Davide’s current passion is the creation of his ongoing project with his muse and partner, Karyn Crisis: Gospel of the Witches. Intended to be Karyn’s long anticipated solo project, it is being crafted with heavy hitters Ross Dolan (Immolation), Danny Walker (Intronaut, Murder Construct, Exhumed) and super star producer Jamie King (Between the Buried And Me). Davide walks us through the genesis of the project:

“I started composing songs for Karyn Crisis’ Gospel of the Witches in
2009: it is now 5 years that I’m working on and off on this project.
Karyn and I dealt with, arranged, recorded, rehearsed and lived with
dozen of songs to choose from and I’m nothing short of amazed at how
good the 13 lucky ones that we picked sound. Most of these tracks are
literally born from bursts of inspiration. There were moments where I
had to run to my desk with the guitar, turn on my laptop, record and
make sure to press the save button. Most of the time, half an hour was
enough. I don’t recall much about the composition process, I was
probably channeling from my good star. What I have stuck in mind are
the following days of arranging process: every bar in this album has
been maniacally shaped and refined to sound heart shattering and
intense. Musically, I feel like the key factors of this work are sonic
layers and mantra-like shapes. To me these songs are like an emotional
vortex that steal you away from reality for much more than their few
minutes of duration. I’m so proud and impatient to finally record this
album. I wanted to offer Karyn the very best I can as a musician and
band member and I feel that my dedication and obstinacy paid off big
time. These songs are what Karyn Crisis proudly sounds like these
days: to my ears, and as a fan, I feel like this album is going to
touch the very core of who has followed her thus far in her career.
Karyn is one of a kind – too challenging for many, too twisted for
others. I say we are lucky to have her around the way she is.”
–Davide Tiso, April 2014

To launch Gospel of Witches and bring it to the masses, the group has launched a Kickstarter. The rewards are mostly personal, unique and crafted from Karyn’s visionary brilliance. There are just 9 days left, so check out their page and give what you can here:

More about Gospel of the Witches:
http://curranreynolds.blogspot.com/2014/03/karyn-crisis-gospel-of-witches.html

Ghost Cult will bring you further updates on this project from now until its release.

Gospel of the Witches on Facebook

Twilight – III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb

Posted on April 7, 2014 by News Team

Twilight has released a stunning effort in III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb; but that’s the good news. The bad news is it is also their last release.

III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb (Century Media) is a grand swan song of noisy, yet tasty and sludgy riffs, in a raw wall of sound courtesy of producer/guitarist/keyboardist Sanford Parker (Minsk, Corrections House). This is further enhanced by the addition of a guitarist who is known for making musical noise an art form – Thurston Moore – yes, of Sonic Youth. It may seem to be an odd pairing, but it does work, and it should. Sonic Youth carved their niche as avant-garde musicians with little regard for things such as standard tunings and playing it safe, and Twilight is cut from the same cloth…albeit the darker, more tattered edge of it.

Moore is but another notch in the belt of a band that has culled quite a roster of musicians over its 14-year existence. The lineup for this final release is rounded out by vocalist N. Imperial (Krieg), co-founder/drummer/bassist/vocalist Wrest (Leviathan), guitarist/vocalist Stavros Giannopoulos (The Atlas Moth/Chrome Waves). Their performances are as good as expected, but this record overall appears to be a cross between their 2005 self-titled release with its aggression and Black Metal lo-fi trappings, and their 2010 release Monument to Time End‘s gaze-y leanings.

‘Lungs’ opens the record with Black Metal screams through Parker’s atmospheric production and grinding riffage. ‘Oh Wretched Son’ is dissonant and driving, successfully combining Noise Rock with Death Metal. ‘Swarming Funeral Mass’ is a doomy affair, starting off sparse but later filling up like an angry well complete with metallic banging effects and dual screams. ‘Seek No Shelter Fevered Ones’ also starts of quiet but very quickly rears up into a powerful beast of a mid-tempo song. ‘A Flood of Eyes’ reminds me very much of Neurosis overall, which is never a bad thing, then it cranks up the Thrash, brings in the barreling double-bass and then brings it down to a mid-tempo trot, resulting in a very cool musical ride. ‘Below Lights’ closes out the record, starting out as a creepy industrial song, and ending as a very creepy Industrial/Death Metal hybrid that would the perfect soundtrack to the kind of nightmare that wakes you up in the middle of the night and prevents you from going back to sleep.

There is not a lot of speed on this record, but what it lacks in speed and blast beats it more than makes up for it in sheer intensity. There is a weight to this record that is palpable, and practically visual. It is very easy to allow your mind to go to very dark places as this insidious soundtrack blares itself into the cracks of your subconscious.

Sonically broad, cold and uncomfortable, calling it Black Metal is not completely accurate. Other Metal genres snake in and out, such as doom, thrash and death. “Experimental” is a word that I do not like to use because it implies a hesitation or an uncertainty. That is not the feeling I get from listening to this record. It is a carefully crafted slab of Metal that is intended to be powerful and unsettling, and it succeeds at both. To get the best idea of what you are in for, picture Tombs at its bleakest, or Neurosis Nat its angriest.

Co-founder Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) appears to have been involved with the writing and development of this record, but left prior to its release. Perhaps this ended a band whose existence was as unpredictable and shrouded in mystery as the music itself. It may never be clear whether Twilight was a black metal supergroup, a kult collaboration, a label-commissioned project or the madness of one man with friends who understood it. Whatever they were, they leave as an enigma with a righteous stain of sound to mark their departure into the ether.

9/10

Twilight on Facebook

Lynn Jordan

Blastfest- Day 3: Bergen, NO

Posted on April 3, 2014 by News Team

On the last day of Blastfest, festival boss Yngve “Bolt” Christiansen had once again made a smart move. He had Wardruna open, and once again the crowd was much bigger than what one would expect at such an early hour. Wardruna are also extremely professional, if quite far removed from what one would consider metal. Although, they do have both Kvitrafn and Gaahl in their lineup, so the selling points in terms of metal are very much present. However, folk music, or the likes thereof, will in my mind never have anything to do at a metal festival, but to each his own, I guess. This became a day were I simply wasn’t able to run around and catch all the bands, but I did manage to catch most of them, and I did catch the first band at the Studio stage, which was Communic. You know, that band with members formerly in Scariot, that kinda sound like the Norwegian version of Nevermore? Well, they certainly do, and they certainly sport some technical abilities. Just like the opening act the night before, Sahg, they did their very best to get the audience started, and I think they really did a good job, at least from what I could observe.

At the mainstage prime blasphemers Carpathian Forest were ready for a auditory attack. They certainly didn’t hold back, kicking off the show with ‘The Frostbitten Woodlands Of Norway’, which is one hell of a groovy song. Then came one classic after the other. Drummer for the occasion was Jonathan A. Perez, who usually plays with Sirenia. He was able to pull off filling the drum chair as a replacement for Kobro. The more alarming thing was a Nattefrost in front that seemed to have lost his ability to scream properly. All growls and snarls and whatnot only seemed like a mixture between half-heartedness and an actual problem with his voice. Maybe the former being a result of the latter? Well, we were given convincing versions of songs like ‘Suicide Song’, ‘Knokkelmann’ and ‘Mask Of The Slave’, so no one was complaining.

Insidious Disease is one strange band. They have some really generic material, but are made up of people from Dimmu Borgir, Old Man’s Child, Morgoth, Napalm Death etc. For the occasion they also seemed to have recruited the former Blood Red Throne drummer Emil Wiksten, currently hammering down the nails for Swedish Aeon. I mean, there’s certainly nothing really holding this band back except for some really generic material. No eyebrows were raised.

Speaking of … back down at the mainstage Aborted were on stage, and that is something completely different altogether. They certainly know both how to craft interesting material, put on a good and energetic show, and really raise hell. Too bad the room was only halfway filled with people as they went on stage. Maybe technical and brutal death metal par excellence was just too much for the audience mainly comprised of Scandinavians? I simply have no idea why people didn’t show up for one of the highlights of the festival – maybe not on paper, but their actual performance was flawless! Having missed out on Enthroned, I got ready for stallwarts of the death metal genre, Vader. I have seen them a couple of times before, and every single time they have been really impressive. Somehow that didn’t seem to be the case this time around. I can’t really put my finger on it, but something just seemed off about them. Maybe it was the volume levels again, just like with Hypocrisy. It just seemed a little tame and polished.

Belphegor suffered from the same thing as Enthroned, although with Belphegor I actually got a short glimpse of them, but there was just too big a crowd to get a proper look. Back down at the mainstage, My Dying Bride were ready for their third ever appearance in Bergen. They started off a bit slow with ‘Kneel Till Doomsday’, ‘The Raven And The Rose’ and a song which I never get why is included in their set, seeing it as it is one of their weaker ones, ‘Like Gods Of The Sun’. Then again, after that, things really picked up, and they ended their set with a cavalcade of ‘Turn Loose The Swans’, ‘She Is The Dark’ and ‘The Dreadful Hours’, leaving me, paradoxically enough, with a big smile, in a euphoric trance-like state, and well on my way into blackout drunkenness. And remember good people of the world: next year (19-21th of February 2015) Yngve is doing things even bigger, with three full days at this year’s main venue. Also, where else do you get to stumble into King Ov Hell, Infernus, Abbath, Demonaz, Gerhard of Einherjer, Grutle of Enslaved and a whole host of other cult names casually hanging out in the bar? Actually, after helping Yngve move some stock and the backline just earlier today, getting a little insight into the things that are planned for the next edition: GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

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Words: Pål Lystrup

Photos: StiPa Photography

Ghost Cult Magazine

Music News, Interviews and Reviews that matter.

Tag Archives: black metal