SZRON / KRIEGSMASCHINE - Split LP (TODESKULT Entertainment - LP 2006)
With the Polish black metal scene getting stronger and stronger, it became a must for me to keep the eye open to watch it spawning more devastating music, hoping that I’m not going to miss anything spectacular. Here's something what may interest black metal fans, especially those, who like the split releases. Two Polish bands on piece of 12" black wax (there’s also a CD version available, while the LP is long sold out I think), delivering about 40 minutes of their hateful art. I must be honest with you, I bought it for Kriegsmaschine only, as all the stuff I’ve heard from Szron prior to this split wasn’t much convincing, but I hoped that also this band have improved and thus will finally manage to get me interested in their music.
But first one to kick off was Kriegsmaschine, although they’re on the B, but I liked the previous album so much that I really wanted to listen to their part of the split first, especially that, as I already said, it was them the reason why I bothered to spend some money on that vinyl. Kriegsmaschine pretty much follows their style from the brilliant "Altered State of Divinity" LP. And I can't have any objections for it, as they really have found their own style on that album; even if at few parts it was reminding me some other bands they also had something unique and individual. Of course there were mainly the Marduk resemblances on the full length, which were sometimes very obvious, but I think here on the split they have been quite limited in number. If there are still some, they're usually happen when Kriegsmaschine speeds up rapidly, but such blasting parts are not dominant on this material (but they do happen like in "Annihilate Prime Factor"). Besides, usually like in "E" such wall of furious blasts is only a beginning, an introduction before something else is going to start - in this particular example it is unbelievably extreme, chaotic and intense playing, rather in the vein of Anaal Nathrakh's madness, after which Kriegsmaschine slows down very drastically, turning into almost melancholic playing, where M. again shows his great abilities as a vocalist, with clean choral singing and screams, which are not just one type of black metal shriek, but much more diverse, depending on the character of the riff. More so, "The Fall, in All Its Glory" has a lot of parts, which seems to me inspired by some of the recent Mayhem's albums. The atmosphere is similar, as well as some vocal parts and those marching rhythms, all creating just an eerie and chaotic feeling. The whole material from Kriegsmaschine turned out to be great once again, proving that this is one of the most intriguing and extreme bands around in this country. Totally recommended.
Szron from the other hand - they're actually on side A of the vinyl - is one of those bands, which I tolerate, but am not that big fan of. They're OK, I do listen to them occasionally, but there's nothing more than just mediocre that I can say about them. Probably though their material from this split is the best one I've heard from this band anyway. Musically Szron plays more traditional, very Norwegian influenced black metal, very much influenced by Darkthrone's "Panzerfaust" and "Transilvanian Hunger" LPs, as well as Gorgoroth's "Antichrist" and "Under the Sign of Hell" albums. Hmm, and maybe also Armagedda... So, only good (sorry, evil?) bands I mentioned here. It is fairly raw sounding, simple, sometimes almost primitive type of playing, but Szron luckily avoids being ridiculous at what they do and keep their music solid, with some quite memorable riffs. "Beneath the Conscious Perception" is I think the best track from this side of the vinyl, but other tracks also are fine. Szron may be missing a spark, which would ablaze the whole world (or the local church at least), but they do try hard and transfer their hateful, antihuman feeling into some decent sounds. Although I must say you don't need to bother with listening to Szron anyway, because they hate you and "the only thing you can do to satisfy us (Szron) is to die!". Sorry, I like my live, so that’s not going to happen yet hehe. But I wish you a happy funeral. I start taking a piss, but really sometimes those hateful statements – no matter how controversial or true they are – make me laugh and think where is it all going and how utopic and pointless it is, especially that probably the members of Szron love their lives anyway hehe. So I'm not going to comment it more then. All in all, I’m glad that those two guys finally have managed to put out a more solid effort, even though it is still far from the brilliant madness of Kriegsmaschine.
Final rate: Kriegsmaschine – 90/100 Szron 70/100
But first one to kick off was Kriegsmaschine, although they’re on the B, but I liked the previous album so much that I really wanted to listen to their part of the split first, especially that, as I already said, it was them the reason why I bothered to spend some money on that vinyl. Kriegsmaschine pretty much follows their style from the brilliant "Altered State of Divinity" LP. And I can't have any objections for it, as they really have found their own style on that album; even if at few parts it was reminding me some other bands they also had something unique and individual. Of course there were mainly the Marduk resemblances on the full length, which were sometimes very obvious, but I think here on the split they have been quite limited in number. If there are still some, they're usually happen when Kriegsmaschine speeds up rapidly, but such blasting parts are not dominant on this material (but they do happen like in "Annihilate Prime Factor"). Besides, usually like in "E" such wall of furious blasts is only a beginning, an introduction before something else is going to start - in this particular example it is unbelievably extreme, chaotic and intense playing, rather in the vein of Anaal Nathrakh's madness, after which Kriegsmaschine slows down very drastically, turning into almost melancholic playing, where M. again shows his great abilities as a vocalist, with clean choral singing and screams, which are not just one type of black metal shriek, but much more diverse, depending on the character of the riff. More so, "The Fall, in All Its Glory" has a lot of parts, which seems to me inspired by some of the recent Mayhem's albums. The atmosphere is similar, as well as some vocal parts and those marching rhythms, all creating just an eerie and chaotic feeling. The whole material from Kriegsmaschine turned out to be great once again, proving that this is one of the most intriguing and extreme bands around in this country. Totally recommended.
Szron from the other hand - they're actually on side A of the vinyl - is one of those bands, which I tolerate, but am not that big fan of. They're OK, I do listen to them occasionally, but there's nothing more than just mediocre that I can say about them. Probably though their material from this split is the best one I've heard from this band anyway. Musically Szron plays more traditional, very Norwegian influenced black metal, very much influenced by Darkthrone's "Panzerfaust" and "Transilvanian Hunger" LPs, as well as Gorgoroth's "Antichrist" and "Under the Sign of Hell" albums. Hmm, and maybe also Armagedda... So, only good (sorry, evil?) bands I mentioned here. It is fairly raw sounding, simple, sometimes almost primitive type of playing, but Szron luckily avoids being ridiculous at what they do and keep their music solid, with some quite memorable riffs. "Beneath the Conscious Perception" is I think the best track from this side of the vinyl, but other tracks also are fine. Szron may be missing a spark, which would ablaze the whole world (or the local church at least), but they do try hard and transfer their hateful, antihuman feeling into some decent sounds. Although I must say you don't need to bother with listening to Szron anyway, because they hate you and "the only thing you can do to satisfy us (Szron) is to die!". Sorry, I like my live, so that’s not going to happen yet hehe. But I wish you a happy funeral. I start taking a piss, but really sometimes those hateful statements – no matter how controversial or true they are – make me laugh and think where is it all going and how utopic and pointless it is, especially that probably the members of Szron love their lives anyway hehe. So I'm not going to comment it more then. All in all, I’m glad that those two guys finally have managed to put out a more solid effort, even though it is still far from the brilliant madness of Kriegsmaschine.
Final rate: Kriegsmaschine – 90/100 Szron 70/100
No comments:
Post a Comment