Taake / Vidsyn - Lagnonector / Men of Eight

 

TAAKE / VIDSYN - Lagnonector / Men of Eight (AGONIA Records - 10" Split MLP 2006)

For me every new Taake release is something special, as this band surely belongs to my favourite black metal hordes of all times. But that doesn’t mean that I also take every next release with their logo without any critique, actually there are some releases, which are more a collectable items than something what I really enjoy listening to (vide their split 10”MLP with Amok). When Agonia Records was releasing this split 10”MLP, with their Norwegian fellows from Vidsyn, I was actually very excited about it, as Taake at that time has just released their phenomenal “Hordaland Doedskvad” album (their best one, definitely), so I hoped that the song “Hennes Kalde Skamlepper” will sound as great as that mentioned album, especially as I think it was recorded more or less at the same time, although in different studio. And also Vidsyn is a cool band, I knew them well from the killer “On Frostbitten Path Beneath” MLP, which Agonia also released (this MLP was more known for a vocal contribution of Nocturno Culto than for the actual music, but personally I liked it a lot and even interviewed the band back in 2005 for my Panzerfaust zine #5). Anyway, here is the split release of both Taake and Vidsyn… Released on 10” vinyl format only and limited to 1000 copies it may be difficult to obtain nowadays, but give a try, as I can promise that musically it is a very good release.

Taake’s “Hennes Kalde Skamlepper” is quite lengthy song, as it is almost 11 minutes long, but surely anyone, who likes the band’s style of majestic, epic, but raw black metal will enjoy this tune a lot. I also do, even though I can honestly say that the material from “Hordaland Doedskvad” album is way better than this. But that doesn’t mean that this single song is not worthy being listened to. Surely it is a decent tune, with some good riffs and as usual cold and grim atmosphere. The production is rawer than on the mentioned album, it feels more like a rehearsal recording, really, but with well listenable instruments, etc., only sometimes it feels slightly messy in the sound. Anyway, the song, even if so long, is quite simple in the structure, with one main riff, which has a main focus all the way through, but along the way Taake puts some tempo and riff / motif changes, including a killer slow down somewhere in the middle of the song. So yeah, “Hennes Kalde Skamlepper” (what translates to "Her Cold Labia"… nice!) is a good track, even if it is not exactly on the same killer level as the stuff from the “…Doedskvad” LP.

Vidsyn on side B offers also just one song, called “Men of Eight”. This one is only five minutes long, which is a small disappointment, as there’s surely enough room to put one more track from this band. Anyway, the song is pretty much in the same vein as the stuff from their “On Frostbitten Path Beneath” MLP, so again cold and Nordic black metal, with some resemblances to all the masters of this music, mainly Taake, Darkthrone and Immortal. I must say that I really like this song a lot, it is classic Norwegian black metal and played in quite fast and vicious way, with great freezing cold atmosphere, so definitely Vidsyn proved to be great band. I wonder what happened to them, as I haven’t heard anything from Nattsjel’s band ever since they did this split release with Taake. And that was already 7 years ago.

Final rate: 70/100