black metal
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A year and two days ago, I reviewed 'Licht', the debut by Belgian one-man black metal act Ande (read). Now he returns with another slab of audible darkness, another peek inside the murkiest regions of this man's mind and soul. Still mainly influenced by acts like Burzum, Wolves In The Throne Room and Altar Of Plagues, Ande seems to have evolved enough to leave the ambient interludes behind him and solely focus of harsh and grinding black metal.
The album begins with a nice piano intro, right before the song 'Argwaan' blasts off. This song drives on several tempos and issues some sneering riffs, along with the typical blackened screams. Once again, Ande manages to open the album with one of the most convincing songs, which obviously is a good thing. The single 'Gebukt' follows in a similar style and is equally immersive as its predecessor.
Yet, my favorite is the seemingly crust punk influenced 'Old and Fat' (which translates as 'Old and Fat'), a gut ripping piece of musical extremism which every fan of old school black metal can appreciate. 'Leeg' ('Empty') is a musical torture device, preduced to pierce right through your eardrums and into your concience. Yet, is also contains a slow post-whatever passage, adding plenty of variation to the whole thing and showing that this musician can do a lot more that just barking out pure misanthropy, anxiety and brutality.
Closer 'Uittrede' is a long outro but also a brilliant piece of dark ambient. As a fan of the latter, I absolutely love this track. It contains plenty of atmosphere, perhaps more so than the rest of the album. It also provides another nice slab of variation on an already quite versatile black metal album. So yes, I do recommend this to all you blackened souls out there. This is another one of those obscure gems that make this genre so damn interesting.
Serge
The album begins with a nice piano intro, right before the song 'Argwaan' blasts off. This song drives on several tempos and issues some sneering riffs, along with the typical blackened screams. Once again, Ande manages to open the album with one of the most convincing songs, which obviously is a good thing. The single 'Gebukt' follows in a similar style and is equally immersive as its predecessor.
Yet, my favorite is the seemingly crust punk influenced 'Old and Fat' (which translates as 'Old and Fat'), a gut ripping piece of musical extremism which every fan of old school black metal can appreciate. 'Leeg' ('Empty') is a musical torture device, preduced to pierce right through your eardrums and into your concience. Yet, is also contains a slow post-whatever passage, adding plenty of variation to the whole thing and showing that this musician can do a lot more that just barking out pure misanthropy, anxiety and brutality.
Closer 'Uittrede' is a long outro but also a brilliant piece of dark ambient. As a fan of the latter, I absolutely love this track. It contains plenty of atmosphere, perhaps more so than the rest of the album. It also provides another nice slab of variation on an already quite versatile black metal album. So yes, I do recommend this to all you blackened souls out there. This is another one of those obscure gems that make this genre so damn interesting.
Serge