-

 Dystopia
“De Verboden Diepte I: Veldslag op de Rand van de Wereld” (Immortal Frost Productions, 2024)

Dutch Black Metal never ceases to amaze me. The way they look at the genre, bend it, cut it, add X and Y to it, show they are always outside the box, and never stuck to old and established lines of thought. Well, I have no issue with that, honestly, as I am still a big fan of older bands, and newer bands playing the old sound, so… Nonetheless, it shows a group of musicians that have no issues with adding A to B, even if A and B make no sense together, and merge them into something that does make sense. Curious.

I was not aware of Dystopia, which is not new, so I dwelled into their latest opus, released on Immortal Frost Productions. “De Verboden Diepte I: Veldslag op de Rand van de Wereld” is quite an interesting piece of music. It is definitely Black Metal, but something else at the same time. Their music has a very nice characteristic: dynamics. Tracks are not too short, nor too long, just enough to let the band perform all the bits and pieces they feel they need to put in each one of these 4 tracks. I feel they never exaggerate nor leave pieces out, d’you know what I mean? “Giftige Woorden” is the track currently playing, and I very it quite nice the changes they have throughout the track, mostly in terms of pace. And then they go into an almost DHG moment, which is really cool, especially considering DHG is, still today, a benchmark for Awesome Black Metal!

Overall, this is how the whole album unravels: dynamics, variation, flow, groove, dark atmospheres and cold riffs, atmospheric nuances. An album with plenty of moments and paces and not a standard approach, but more of a progressive and inventive one, I dare say. This could be an interesting find for some Black Metal fans, the ones that are less centred on Old School Black Metal and more open to different approaches. I find it quite enjoyable, although it is not my cup of tea, in all honesty. However, it is very pleasing to see/hear that musicians have not given up on exploring and pushing limits. Cheers to them for that.

IFP Official WebStore

Comentários

Enviar um comentário

Mensagens populares deste blogue

-
Imagem
Beyond Helvete - “Anthem of Decay” (Immortal Frost Productions, 2022). Immortal Frost Productions has given us 2 tremendous Black Metal works this year: Corpus Christii and Pyra. Both different, but both within the realm of Black Metal (and Death Metal). This work, by Beyond Helvete, is the 3 rd IFP work I have access to, and we again drop into the universe of Black Metal. Slightly different from the already mentioned ones, but still ferocious and full of power. Beyond Helvete has been around since 2007, and Natrgaard, the man behind it, has been delivering the goods. Imagine the strength of a band like Marduk, that endurance, that consistent show of power… Beyond Helvete lives in a similar bubble, although not reaching the quality the Swedes have gathered throughout these many years of presence in the Black Metal Global scene. Nonetheless, it sounds as a good example to describe one of the facets of the German musician without limiting it to A or B. The track that names the alb
Ler mais
-
Imagem
  Infernal Angels “Shrine of Black Fire” (Immortal Frost Productions, 2023) 2023 has been, so far – and we are almost done with the year – a splendid year for Black Metal. Strangely enough I have been focusing more on bands and albums that have a deliberate melodic approach to the sound, rather than going for the Raw Black Metal acts. Not that we do not have been infernally blessed with exquisite works of Art, but the well-produced records have been calling for me, and I have answered the call. Immortal Frost is a bit to blame for that. Surtur has released, so far, at least 2 records I believe will be considered some of the best I had the pleasure to listen to this year: Infinity’s “The Untamed Hunger” and Deadspace’s “Unveiling the Palest Truth”; an honorable mention to Azaghal’s “Alttarimme on Luista Tehty”, that shows a band still pushing hard! The label’s latest release is Infernal Angel’s “Shrine of the Black Fire”, and we’ll jump right into the fire to see what we got here!
Ler mais
-
Imagem
  Kratti “Matka Kohti Kosmista” (Signal Rex, 2024) “Kratti are the ascending newcomers of the bleak fields of Finnish Black Metal!” That is one bold statement, right? You need to be good at something before you go out and say that. Well… let’s find out. Kratti is a 3 man Finnish straight to the throat Black Metal act. They do have a point when they state they are the “…ascending newcomers…”, for their sound is stone cold ripping Black Metal. It is Finnish, and you can almost feel it in your bones. The melodies merged with that Finnish violence – that is not violence, but a harsher approach – that we all love. Come on! It is hard not to enjoy what the Finns have been doing for decades, their mastered sound, their own vision of Black Metal… Kratti goes down that path, successfully, and oh man! I was never into complex music, maybe due to my Hardcore Punk background, so when a band goes straight to the point, I am in for the ride. To say that these lads are doing something that ne
Ler mais