Thursday 4 January 2018

Har - Baal Ha'ov

HAR - Baal Ha'ov (WOLFSBANE Records LP 2017)
Black or death metal from Israel is still a rare thing, especially if you seek for a quality and worthy stuff. I doubt there ever was a band from this country, which I would really like. Sure, I remember "Djinn" and "Sphynx", two pretty solid albums from Melechesh. But I can't say that I listen to them often... Hmm, last time I listened to this band must have been already ages ago. There's also Arallu, who're good also... But that's it (sorry, but I never liked Salem!). And well, Har is about to change that, because I truly liked the music they just unleashed. Here's their debut EP "Baal Ha'ov", first released on CD and tape, but from 2017 available also on vinyl thanks to Wolfsbane Records. In my opinion this is the most extreme and worthy stuff on the Israeli metal scene I know of. I truly enjoyed this music! 
With six songs and twenty minutes of music, we get a fierce and vicious harsh black / death metal, with the first of these two styles playing much dominant role. "Baal Ha'ov" is aggressive, obscure, it's also very bestial in its nature. Most of the time Har doesn't waste time and just speeds like crazy with that old school, primitive form of black / death metal, bringing an utter destruction and malignancy. But some slower fragments also appear and actually the slowest song on this EP titled "Cannibal" is definitely my personal favourite. But the whole "Baal Ha'ov" is not bad at all. At the first listen I wasn't much impressed, but the more and more I was playing this vinyl, the more I was getting into this piece morbidity. And now I can say that I like it and can sincerely recommend it.  
As far as I managed to find out, another EP is coming out soon, this time through Blood Harvest, so keep an eye on both releases. I already had a chance to hear some pieces from "Visitation" and damn, it's gonna be good again! 
Verdict: 70/100 

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