black metal / avant garde
Black metal can be quite a stagnant art form and well, some might argue the same thing about German outfit Porta Nigra – who do not come from the place, where the original Porta Nigra stands, from Trier close to the French border, but rather from a city a little east of it called Koblenz. Thus, the band’s usage of the term probably refers more to the idea of a black gate (the literal translation), a gate into the abyss, maybe even into some kind of hell. One definitely might think so when listening to their new record, “Schöpfungswut” out on Soulseller Records, because the record starts off with a raging, speedy version of black metal on “Die Kosmiker” (‘the Cosmics’).
The record, six tracks spanning 46 minutes, revolves around a lot of mythological figures – Freya from the Nordic sagas, Ixion from Ancient greek mythology – but also around the myth of creation as represented by the title itself – ‘The rage of creation’ as it might be translated, which is also alluded to when they use the German version of ‘Our Father’ on the fifth track “Unser Weg nach Elysium” (‘our way to Elysium’) where they interestingly mix christian spirituality with a nod to Ancient Roman idea of paradise, Elysium.
This record is musically much less avantgarde than its predecessors, also due to a lineup-change. It is much more focused on black metal and the primal anger connected to it. This is also its flaw, the album is less eclectic, even though that was the aspect why they stood out from the crowd, with songs and structures streaming in from basically everywhere. Nowadays, the only outstanding element are the vocals who channel a lot of different spirits from old shanties to infernal growls, sometimes even a kind of vaudevillian crooning or some gang shouts. All of the lyrics are well-understandable as the production is extremely good and clear but not without the necessary dirt and grind.
The band is still good at penning down interesting lyrics and transporting them into great vocal melodies, but some part of their originality is missing from this release, thus it is a good record, but not outstanding. For fans of the genre that can’t get enough.
Thorsten
The record, six tracks spanning 46 minutes, revolves around a lot of mythological figures – Freya from the Nordic sagas, Ixion from Ancient greek mythology – but also around the myth of creation as represented by the title itself – ‘The rage of creation’ as it might be translated, which is also alluded to when they use the German version of ‘Our Father’ on the fifth track “Unser Weg nach Elysium” (‘our way to Elysium’) where they interestingly mix christian spirituality with a nod to Ancient Roman idea of paradise, Elysium.
This record is musically much less avantgarde than its predecessors, also due to a lineup-change. It is much more focused on black metal and the primal anger connected to it. This is also its flaw, the album is less eclectic, even though that was the aspect why they stood out from the crowd, with songs and structures streaming in from basically everywhere. Nowadays, the only outstanding element are the vocals who channel a lot of different spirits from old shanties to infernal growls, sometimes even a kind of vaudevillian crooning or some gang shouts. All of the lyrics are well-understandable as the production is extremely good and clear but not without the necessary dirt and grind.
The band is still good at penning down interesting lyrics and transporting them into great vocal melodies, but some part of their originality is missing from this release, thus it is a good record, but not outstanding. For fans of the genre that can’t get enough.
Thorsten
