Reining in the Unorthodox – 87%
TheStormIRide, February 23rd, 2015
Written based on this version: 2015, CD, Heidens Hart Records
The evolution of Russia’s Blackdeath is quite remarkable. Initially known as Draugwath from 1995 to 1996, the band switched to the Black Draugwath moniker which they used from 1996 to 1998. After releasing a pair of demos and a split, the band switched their name again in 1998, this time to Blackdeath. The early material in Blackdeath’s catalog, especially albums like Saturn Sector and Fucking Fullmoon Foundation, was raw and rather derivative examples of simplistic and crude black metal . Satan macht frei, which was released in 2004, took the band’s ultra raw sound to a new level, but rather than continue down the same path for later albums, Blackdeath changed their template drastically.
Blackdeath consisted of brothers Para Bellum, on bass and vocals, and Abysslooker, on guitars and vocals, until 2007 when Maya joined the band to handle drumming duties. Following Maya’s addition to the band, Blackdeath released Vortex in 2008, which saw the band moving away from staunch Darkthrone worship and into an entity of their own. Interjecting strange tempos, borderline psychedelic song structuring and choppy riffing into their brand of black metal, the band began moving towards the avant-garde end of things, but never forgetting that they primarily play black metal. This transition to an amalgamation of black metal and off the wall weirdness seemed to culminate with 2013′s Phobos, with a rather off-kilter, mind altering take on the rawer side of black metal; showing Blackdeath at their strongest, and weirdest. Despite the album’s strengths, it did seem to suffer from over ambitiousness, almost being avant-grade for the sake of being strange.
In January 2015, Blackdeath returned with Gift, their eight full length album, released through Heidens Hart Records. Continuing the trend started with Satan macht frei, all of the song titles are German, but that’s not the only thing that Gift keeps. Retaining the rather raw and unrelenting sound, and a dash of the avant-garde, oddball sound from the last few albums, the band brings a sound that is ambitious and harrowing. Despite the aspiring nature, the band tightened the reins on outright weirdness, opting for minor touches here and there. Most of the album features fast paced drumming with a lot of blasts, but also with a fair amount of tempered, mid-paced beats. The bass is thick and prominent and, while not jaw dropping, there are a lot of nice fills throughout. The vocals are more straight forward on Gift with a grating, raspy shout, which is a much welcome change from the deranged and demented style on earlier albums. The vocals are actually pretty low in the mix, allowing the guitars to shine prominently.
With the vocals and rhythm section sticking to a rather traditional approach, it leaves the avant-garde stuff to the guitars. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of Gift is styled in the traditions of the black arts, but Blackdeath is able to contort these elements into a swirling, miasmac cauldron of unexpectedness, bearing a rather raw and cold tone. From the past paced and frenetic fret running on “Der Hammer des steinermen Molochs” to the more tempered mid-paced raw groove of “Das gottlose Lied”, Abysslooker presents his finest performance to date. A few of the tracks dig right back into their past days of Darkthrone emulation, with some razor sharp, cyclical trem riffing, but it’s mixed into sections of jagged start/stop chords and the occasional progressively tinged scale runs. What makes the guitar style work so well is the rather choppy approach to the riffing and songwriting; enough that it borders on the unexpected, even after several runs through the album.
Gift shows Blackdeath continuing to climb their way out of the underground with their most devastating and convincing album to date. While Phobos was a solid album, Blackdeath went a little overboard on the abject weirdness. With the more focused songwriting, Gift knocks the band’s previous work out of the park. With choppy, unexpected riffing, an extremely varied rhythm section and more restrained vocals, the inserts a dose of avant-garde styling without forgetting the core of black metal musicianship and aesthetics. Gift is one of those hard to describe albums that really has to be heard to fully comprehend what’s going on. Suffice it to say, fans of Thantifaxath, Dodecahedron and Blut Aus Nord’s more avant-garde tinged works should find plenty to delve into on Gift.
Written for The Metal Observer.
rafazardly 