Those of you who know about Darker Than Blacks records have already heard of the mighty BARAD DUR. This german bands plays an excellent pagan black metal with its own style (I mean they don't have an obvious influence that everybody can hear immediately while listening to its songs !), not really fast but with great keyboard parts. This recording of them (2 long tracks) is better in my sense than their CD out on DTB ("Dunkelheit"), more melancholic and sorrowful, but still with this hatred that creates such incredible atmospheres... I didn't know anything about GRAVEN befoore they appeared on this split MCD, but I have to admit I like what this band plays. The 3 songs here have quite a shitty sound but they remind me of the old days of the Norwegian scene, and many riffs are simple but interesting. I would comapre this band a bit to ANCIENT and GRAVELAND, some details made me think so but many friends of mine told me they hadn't seen the common point with ANCIENT, so... GRAVEN plays 3 tracks. This MCD is limited to 500 hand numbered copies, I gues it's easily availbale on various websites on the Internet, so act fast before you regret it !

8.5 / 10

© 2003 lord pesten