The sounds of raging warfare are superimposed over an excerpt from Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." So begins a demo from this obscure one-man NS black metal band. The cover art is a bad xerox copy of that famous painting of Thor, the one where the Nordic god is depicted in a martial pose, about to bash some bloke's head with his hammer. There is no contact address to be found anywhere in the liner notes (which perhaps was done intentionally for the conspiratorial purposes), although I believe that the band is from Belgium, but let us move on anyhow.

Raw, straightforward black metal is what you get from the band's main man Donarssen, who also receives help from a session bass player. Simplistic and predictable riff progressions are powered by a drum machine and coarse screams. It's rather unremarkable, although there are a few redeeming qualities. I do like the vocals because they are pushed hard and have quite a bloodthirsty feel. On the song "Sieg oder Valhalla" a short speech sample of you-know-whom is used very effectively. In the middle of the song the guitars get cut off all of a sudden, and the sample is played over the sound of a machine gun drum beats. The effect is quite chilling. Elsewhere, a couple of songs are injected with very subtle and melancholic, clean guitar segments with whispered vocals, which provide a striking contrast to the raw guitar and drum machine warfare. I only wish it was done more often because Mr. Donarssen seems to be really good at that. The demo ends with an outro consisting of another classical excerpt, this time from Edvard Grieg. These diversions, however, are not enough to make "Hymnen..." really worthwhile because the actual black metal served on this demo is far from outstanding. If you are a hardcore fan or an avid collector of raw underground black metal, who is not bothered by the lack of originality, or for whom ideology comes first, then this is worth tracking down. Otherwise, just stick with your Darkthrone and Graveland albums.

© 2001 boris