Taake - Kong vinter

TAAKE - Kong vinter (DARK ESSENCE - LP 2017)

Unfortunately, I missed my chance to get Taake's "Stridens hus" LP, as well as "Kulde" and "Baktanker" EPs. They're all still on my wantlist and I hope that one day I will be able to complete my vinyl collection of this fantastic Norwegian band. Meanwhile I got a chance to buy "Kong vinter", which is Taake's seventh full length. Did I have big expectations towards this record? Sure, I did. All in all, some of the previous albums of this project belong to the best Norwegian black metal ever released, especially such "Noregs vaapen" and "Hordalands doedskvad" are godly albums, definitely my favourites in Hoest's catalogue. As for "Kong vinter", I can say that it's good album, maybe even very good... but at the same time I cannot say that it's the peak of Taake's creativity and quality. There are of course many fragments, which confirm the talent of Hoest as composer, I love his characteristic riffs, vocals and the atmosphere he creates in his music. But at the same time I miss something here. Maybe it's the fact that the album is pretty slow paced, so it lacks a bit of that viciousness and aggression of previous albums is the reason? Here and there it just gets a bit monotonous. And it's one hour long record, man, which is a bit too much! 

The biggest feeling of tired and monotonous material for me personally comes from songs titled "Huset i havet" and "Havet i huset", which are on side B of the double vinyl. They're solid songs, sure, with couple of great harmonies and riffs. It's classic Taake, but not the best I heard. When I listen to them, I feel like the music becomes too repetitive, if Hoest was circling around the same kind of ideas over and over again... I could really live without these two. Luckily songs like "Sverdets vei" are far better. This one contains one of the very few fast parts on the album, but also a lot of slower type of playing and again some surprising melodic stuff, so it's varied, but interesting song. And I like it a lot. "Inntrenger" is also great, even though it's much slower. But there's this cold, vicious and ultimately grim black metal, which Taake is best at. Great atmosphere, great riffs, great vocals... that's what I like. "Inntrenger" has very hypnotizing feel as well, with the way the riffs flow, especially in the opening, instrumental part of the song. 

What else we have here? Well, first of all, there's "Jernhaand", which probably is my favourite track on the album, I love its Darkthrone'ish parts combined with classic Taake type of riffage, fast pace and cold, grim, misanthropic black metal aura. There's also "Fra Bjoergegrend mot glemselen", which is an instrumental, ten minutes long, epic song, which has some truly amazing harmonies, especially in the second part. I almost get "goose skin", when I hear these stunning riffs. Finally we get a bonus track, which is "On Top" - De Press cover. De Press are this weird Polish / Norwegian rock band, which I always found funny, especially with their songs like "Bo jo cie kochom", which are pretty popular here in Poland. I actually checked "On Top" in its original version, and it's quite bizarre song, so I'm surprised to hear Taake covering it. But hey! Last time they did The Cure cover, so maybe the times, when Hoest was doing covers of Burzum or Darkthrone are gone haha!   

Generally "Kong Vinter" didn't surprise me with anything. It's rather typical Taake record. And not their best one, I'm afraid. But it's a good and solid album, with some good songs. I even like that cheesy front photograph. I don't think then that Taake will win many new listeners with this record. Haters will keep hating them, worshipers will still worship Taake. I like this band a lot. 

Standout tracks: "Inntrenger", "Jernhaand",  "Sverdets vei" 

Verdict: 70/100 

Dagorath - Evil Is the Spirit

DAGORATH - Evil Is the Spirit (UNDER THE SIGN OF GARAZEL - CD 2018)

Previous Dagorath album "Glare of the Morning Star" was pretty good, but to be honest, it didn't keep my attention for too long. But their newest recording, which is "Evil Is the Spirit" EP, certainly will stay in my stereo for longer and I'm sure that I will be coming back to it more often. Damn, this stuff is excellent! Dagorath surprised me very positively, I didn't expect to hear such a good material from them. But here it is and I strongly advise you to give it a chance. If you're black metal fan, do so immediately. You will be impressed. 

Dagorath plays killer traditional black metal, which easily creates the cold, grim feeling and blood-freezing malicious aura. But the quality and variety of their music is simply impressive. Songwriting is top notch and the whole spectrum of different kind of riffs that were used for these songs guarantee that there's not even a single minute of boredom. I love how they combine intense, aggressive and often fast black metal – which obviously sounds very harsh and vicious – with a strong, sometimes almost dominating melodic line. But don't think that these melodies are here to make the music sound polite. Nope! It's similar type of melodic riffs, which you could find on such classic records as "Antichrist" from the old days and in Mgła or Cultes des Ghoules, from newer bands. Sulphurous, harsh and obscure, yet mesmerizing and really memorable – this music is simply fantastic and I have total support for Dagorath for this EP. Sometimes their ideas go a little away from the usual black metal patterns, especially in the beginning of "Przedświt", but that only increase my interest. I like how they take time to build the tension and atmosphere in this song. Howling, ferocious vocals and raw, organic production are also strong aspects of this EP. 

Even though "Evil Is the Spirit" is considered as an EP, it is 40 minutes long, which is enough for a full length album. There are only five songs on it, so you can see that all these songs are pretty long and extensive. It's always difficult to have an eight minutes long song interesting from start to the very end. Well, Dagorath doesn't really do much, their ideas are nothing extraordinary and they never use extras like keyboards or acoustics to broaden their sound. But this is where a good and memorable melody or riff helps. If it's good, it can be played for couple of minutes and it never gets boring. So, you can say that their music is simple, but effective. And most importantly, the eerie, cold atmosphere is exactly as I like to hear from such music. 

Oh, let me also say that their cover of "Veadtuck" is just killer. Way better than Urgehal's and I like it even more than the original (but I've never been big fan of Von). This song, on this EP, sounds great and I like it a lot. Well fuckin done! 

Standout tracks: "Przedświt" 

Verdict: 90/100 

Apostasy - The Blade of Hell

APOSTASY - The Blade of Hell (FALLEN TEMPLE - CD 2018)

After releasing their debut album "Sunset of the End" in 1991 Apostasy split up in 1993 and remained inactive until twenty years later, when Cris Profaner decided to resurrect his old band with two new members. In 2016 new material "The Blade of Hell" has been recorded and well, I have to say that this comeback EP gives a very good impression. I like this new effort much more than the old album, not only because "Sunset of the End" together with the demo was over sixty minutes long, so it managed to bore me to death half way through. In this case, these twenty minutes of "The Blade of Hell" are a real piece a cake. But I think these new songs are just better, so it's a real pleasure to listen to this new EP. 

I really have to say that the music on "The Blade of Hell" breaths with old school thrash / death metal! For me it sounds like a classic release from early 90's, with that great, harsh sound and perfectly executed, aggressive thrash metal, which has no sign of boring modern styles. These songs resurrect the ancient feeling perfectly and turn into great thrashing feast for all bangers. Nice, razor sharp riffs, nice dark, vicious feel, awesome harsh vocals (I wish they would get rid of all these high pitched screams, but I know I'm asking for too much). This EP has a huge "Show No Mercy" influence, but you can bet than most of the best thrash bands from late 80's (Dark fuckin Angel! Sepultura! Kreator!) had an impact on Apostasy. That's good and the result is just great, even though I have to say that: 1. I wish there was no intro on this EP and they kicked off / or thrashed off with killer riff from the very first second. This intro doesn't fit here. 2. I'm not quite sure if I like these acoustic guitar parts, which are here and there. But who cares... I recommend you checking "The Blade of Hell". Apostasy will soon release also their second album, so it can be interesting! 

Standout track: "The Great Damnation" 

Verdict: 70/100