"Murder me, murder me...
I am your antichrist"

I encountered this mini-CD (16:33 min) a week ago in the used CD's bin at De Platenboef in The Hague - for a nice $4.00 . I'd noticed it of course in No Colours' release list - and from what I had heard it was supposed to be "raw BM".

Well I can confirm this - this is *raw*, primitive and hateful. A cliche description perhaps, but there's nothing more I can say about it. Musically and aesthetically, this band plays along the lines of Vlad Tepes, with a slight Burzum influence. If you happen to value the anti-music of Legion Noires bands like Vlad Tepes (especially the Belketre split material), you're in for a (short) treat. Guitars howling with feedback, distorted into chaos and deconstructive drumming - this is pure musical masochism. The song material is actually quite varied, and I can't point out any truly weak passages or riffs in this short abomination. The vocals are totally sick sonic vomits, also vaguely Burzum-esque but a bit more 'forced' and shrieky.

I can be brief concerning the sound: rehearsal room quality. No big flaws, the sound is not flat or muffled, but this material has clearly not seen a Pytten or Tatgren. I am happy with this here, as more production work would not have been able to improve the overall atmosphere this music creates. This is anti-music, intended to be ugly. This is one of those lovely "This grim release is limited to 1000 copies" thingies by the way...so I guess I must feel lucky.

In conclusion, this band does nothing new, but entirely succeeds in creating the atmosphere that defined Black Metal's place in the artistical spectrum: hateful, grim and ugly music. A footnote in Black Metal history, but enjoyable for what it is, and what it stands for.

"...like virginspit"

© 2000 sybren