Decayed
The Book of Darkness
[Drakkar]
Though known mostly for their releases by the Black Legions, Drakkar Productions is a label that defies pigeonholing. Known mostly for the raw, brutal, sick side of black metal, they have nevertheless surprised many people with their 'unusual' releases - Celestia, Hirilorn, and now Portugal's Decayed. Decayed may not seem quite so 'out there' as the two aforementioned bands, as they are unquestionably black metal, but they're far from modern in their approach. Their album "The Book of Darkness" plays an updated version of the best of early/mid-period Bathory with some general thrashing metal influence and a bit of later Venom (think "At War With Satan") vibe. As I've said before (and will undoubtedly say again), black metal, yes, but black METAL.
The album starts off with the 22-minute opening track "Death Chimes of Armageddon", an epic to end all epics. Great fucking thick guitar sound, pounding drums (programmed, but VERY well done), and vox quite reminiscent of earlier Quorthon (say, circa Under the Sign). Twenty more minutes of thrashing old-school black metal fill out the first half of the disc, and I guaranteed you'll be slaying the goat and banging your head the whole time. What makes this disc even more surprising for Drakkar, though, is the 30 minutes (!) of covers tacked on to the end. They pay homage to the obligatory old masters (Venom and Bathory each get two covers, and Celtic Frost and Sodom also get tributes) and then show they're not averse to having a good time by covering AC/DC ("Touch Too Much") and George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" (which segues nicely into a bit of "Smoke on the Water"). They turn these lighter tunes into blasphemously heavy monsters, of course, but you can still tell the band is having a good time bashing these out. Maybe the die-hards are already writing this disc off because of the fun involved, but fuck them; The spirit of black metal, the idea that NOTHING is taboo, is all through this disc. I recommend this album highly not just for the old-school BM nuts but for all metalhead maniacs. Hails to Drakkar for proving the naysayers wrong yet again, and hails to Decayed for proving that blasphemy is all in the approach. Hail Satan!
© 2001 lord vic
The album starts off with the 22-minute opening track "Death Chimes of Armageddon", an epic to end all epics. Great fucking thick guitar sound, pounding drums (programmed, but VERY well done), and vox quite reminiscent of earlier Quorthon (say, circa Under the Sign). Twenty more minutes of thrashing old-school black metal fill out the first half of the disc, and I guaranteed you'll be slaying the goat and banging your head the whole time. What makes this disc even more surprising for Drakkar, though, is the 30 minutes (!) of covers tacked on to the end. They pay homage to the obligatory old masters (Venom and Bathory each get two covers, and Celtic Frost and Sodom also get tributes) and then show they're not averse to having a good time by covering AC/DC ("Touch Too Much") and George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" (which segues nicely into a bit of "Smoke on the Water"). They turn these lighter tunes into blasphemously heavy monsters, of course, but you can still tell the band is having a good time bashing these out. Maybe the die-hards are already writing this disc off because of the fun involved, but fuck them; The spirit of black metal, the idea that NOTHING is taboo, is all through this disc. I recommend this album highly not just for the old-school BM nuts but for all metalhead maniacs. Hails to Drakkar for proving the naysayers wrong yet again, and hails to Decayed for proving that blasphemy is all in the approach. Hail Satan!
© 2001 lord vic