black metal
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Right, back to the old school of black metal, and by 'old school' I mean 'really old school'. Do you remember when the genre emerged? Influenced by thrash metal and punk rock, featuring eerie screams and loaded with obscurity, those first black metal bands were a crushing new force in the world of metal. If you're a bit nostalgic for that era, or if you think modern black metal is too complex and outlandish, than this split is the remedy you need.
Curse kicks off and how. After a few seconds in opener 'Exploding Head', I think of a blend between Slayer and Motorhead, perhaps a bit more blackened than both but with similar riffing, drums and sheer metal power. In fact, Curse also comes up with a great cover of 'Ace Of Spades', an excellent tribute to Lemmy. 'The Observer' certainly takes me back to the early days of black metal, yet it also reminds me a bit of old Tiamat for some reason.
Styggelse continues the face-smashing assault with uptempo black thrash. In 'Angel Blood Shed' I suddenly think of bands like Judas Priest, again in a blackened version. 'Stay True To Satan For Eternity' has something old Sepultura-ish, but perhaps that's because of the overall production. The most punishing song is the harsh, chaotic 'No Team In I', which is a hurtful and grim piece of old school black metal.
Wan has the opportunity to close this and they do it with the thickest guitars on this split. 'In Your Face' has a stunning groove death metal feel and brings Benediction to mind. Wan delivered the dirtiest, grittiest and most chaotic songs on this split, highlighting in the noisy 'På Korset Vi Kräks '. They close with 'Faun', a haunting epos of blackened doom, again seemingly born from the early death metal scene.
There are a lot of non black-metal names in this review and with good reason too. These songs take me back to an era where the term 'black metal' wasn't used yet. Back then it was just a 'Venom' album. You can feel the bleak atmosphere and the malignant nature of the music but musically, it's far away from acts like Darkthrone, Immortal or Dimmu Borgir. That is not a bad thing by the way, on the contrary. As a black metal fan, you should buy this thing. You can't go more old school than this.
Serge
Curse kicks off and how. After a few seconds in opener 'Exploding Head', I think of a blend between Slayer and Motorhead, perhaps a bit more blackened than both but with similar riffing, drums and sheer metal power. In fact, Curse also comes up with a great cover of 'Ace Of Spades', an excellent tribute to Lemmy. 'The Observer' certainly takes me back to the early days of black metal, yet it also reminds me a bit of old Tiamat for some reason.
Styggelse continues the face-smashing assault with uptempo black thrash. In 'Angel Blood Shed' I suddenly think of bands like Judas Priest, again in a blackened version. 'Stay True To Satan For Eternity' has something old Sepultura-ish, but perhaps that's because of the overall production. The most punishing song is the harsh, chaotic 'No Team In I', which is a hurtful and grim piece of old school black metal.
Wan has the opportunity to close this and they do it with the thickest guitars on this split. 'In Your Face' has a stunning groove death metal feel and brings Benediction to mind. Wan delivered the dirtiest, grittiest and most chaotic songs on this split, highlighting in the noisy 'På Korset Vi Kräks '. They close with 'Faun', a haunting epos of blackened doom, again seemingly born from the early death metal scene.
There are a lot of non black-metal names in this review and with good reason too. These songs take me back to an era where the term 'black metal' wasn't used yet. Back then it was just a 'Venom' album. You can feel the bleak atmosphere and the malignant nature of the music but musically, it's far away from acts like Darkthrone, Immortal or Dimmu Borgir. That is not a bad thing by the way, on the contrary. As a black metal fan, you should buy this thing. You can't go more old school than this.
Serge
