Countess
The Gospel of the Horned One
[Thurisaz]
Ahhhh.....black metal has a name, and it's name is COUNTESS!!! I'm sure a lot of
you have either heard or at least heard of this band, long renown for their complete
inability to churn out anything but the most basic of all black metal - sure, this
isn't quite as simplistic as Ildjarn (hell, NOTHING is), but at the same time, this
manages to maintain a lot more of the old school "traditional" black metal vibe than
Ildjarn ever did/does.
From what I've managed to gather, this is the second Countess "release" (the first being a demo entitled "Permafrost"), and it's a corker alright. 43 minutes of Bathory/Hellhammer worshipping spread over 8 tracks - all sloppily played with the most ineffective of guitar tones heard in a long long time. The sheer low-fidelity of this is awe inspiring (mind you, this isn't low-fi in a Belketre/Vlad Tepes sort of way, but more in a "Hey guys, look at this old demo from 1985 I dug up in the attic" vein). I can guarantee that 99.8% of you reading this will HATE this (or at least grow to dislike it once the novelty of it wears out) - the other 0.2% will gleefully frolic about their rooms remembering what it was like when they first got their traded copy of "Satanic Rites" in the mail. I'll probably take a lot of flack for the opening line of this review, but I don't care : for the 43 minutes this CD was on, I was 15 again and listening to a form of music that would NEVER have any commercial appeal to the masses (my, how times have changed). Highlights of the CD are..well...all of it! But "Kneel before the Master's Throne" takes top honours for the amazing vocal delivery during the chorus. Highly recommended for fans of traditional old school black metal (not black thrash, black METAL), all others can go buy a CD on No Fashion or something...
© 1997 chorazaim
From what I've managed to gather, this is the second Countess "release" (the first being a demo entitled "Permafrost"), and it's a corker alright. 43 minutes of Bathory/Hellhammer worshipping spread over 8 tracks - all sloppily played with the most ineffective of guitar tones heard in a long long time. The sheer low-fidelity of this is awe inspiring (mind you, this isn't low-fi in a Belketre/Vlad Tepes sort of way, but more in a "Hey guys, look at this old demo from 1985 I dug up in the attic" vein). I can guarantee that 99.8% of you reading this will HATE this (or at least grow to dislike it once the novelty of it wears out) - the other 0.2% will gleefully frolic about their rooms remembering what it was like when they first got their traded copy of "Satanic Rites" in the mail. I'll probably take a lot of flack for the opening line of this review, but I don't care : for the 43 minutes this CD was on, I was 15 again and listening to a form of music that would NEVER have any commercial appeal to the masses (my, how times have changed). Highlights of the CD are..well...all of it! But "Kneel before the Master's Throne" takes top honours for the amazing vocal delivery during the chorus. Highly recommended for fans of traditional old school black metal (not black thrash, black METAL), all others can go buy a CD on No Fashion or something...
© 1997 chorazaim