Plage is a German/Danish band, formed in 2011 by Exord and Blizzard and completed by Vrede and Zorn a year later. This album is their first full-length, after a sold-out demo in 2013. Plage delivers the complete package. Corpse paint, blast beats, fericious guitars and spiteful screams. This is about as primitive and filthy as black metal can get.
After a short, frightful intro, the band opens with a mid-tempo song, preparing the listener for the sickness and malice that is about to happen. 'En Hedensk Kriger' is actually the most varied song on the album, containing the intro, a mid-tempo part, clean pagan vocals, screams and the typical blast beats. In that aspect, I guess it's my favourite on as well. 'Ihjelslår' is another one of those awesome blackened anthems.
By we're not done there yet, there's a lot more sickness to come. 'Your Gods Fall' incorporates the old punk influences of Marduk and Beherit, but quickly brings out the sheer speed that this genre is known for. There's also a bit of melodic metal, mainly in 'Chained by Flesh' but even there it's hidden beneath a raw, glacial sound. 'I Am Death' is a brutal, aggressive and ferocious black metal track, barely avoiding to drown in complete chaos but oh so epic.
After a few listens 'Den Kristne Stank' (the album) truly opens up and shows a pretty damn good old school black metal band with enough variation with within the sick sound to keep it interesting for the entire duration, and maybe even for a few consecutive listens. I named just a few of the eight songs on this album but they're all very strong. Somehow, I truly believe that Satan himself coem over to watch Plage play live once in a while...
Serge