ANGUANA is another band from the mighty Italian underground scene. This is their new EP containing 6 songs, two of them being atmospheric instrumentals which serve as kind of intermezzo between the songs. Anguana play mixture of raw old school black metal, melodic atmospheric black with touch of folk influences which can be heard in the song structures, like in the title song for example, which starts with folk metal guitar work, evolving into fast, aggressive, yet melancholic melodic black metal song, like Italian bands do. I love the use of choir clean vocals, reminding me of Bathory behind the black metal vocals which at times reminded me of Satyr from Satyricon with similarity of voice. Lyrics are in Italian and local dialect and deal with witchery, folk tales and tradition, this band being from Venetian region, meaning north of Italy. The usage of synth is sounding more dungeon synth and fits perfectly to the whole atmosphere of this opus, making it even more versatile and interesting for listening. This is good band and I am looking forward to the full length one day.
Keep of Kalessin are back with their new full length opus. This is band’s first full length since 2015 and seventh opus in all. This one contains nine songs. Keep of Kalessin don’t play melodic black metal as they did in their early days, band being formed in 1995. Nowadays, they play bombastic mixture of symphonic black metal and so much more, thrash metal solos being influences in ‘Hellride’, but also symphonic and orchestral melodies in the title song being one of my personal favorites. They retained their black metal roots and blast beats but made it more progressive, more aggressive and melodic at the same time. Keyboard parts fit perfectly in songs and vocals are story for themselves. Obsidian Claw, the only remaining founding member delivers vocals in unbelievable range, from classic black metal screams, fantastic clean passages and atmospheric melodies to thrash metal shouting and death metal grunts making this record one of the best black metal opuses released in 2023 and making my jaws open and dropped in amazement. Although there are some longer songs, like epic ‘The Omni’ or ‘The Obsidian’s Expanse’, not a second of this album gets boring or stale. At times they remind me of best Emperor’s works, but to be sure, not being a clone, only an inspiration. This is black metal record par excellence.
Još jedan bend s moćne talijanske underground scene je pred nama. Afraid of Destiny su iz Trevisa i ovo je njihov novi album koji je izašao uz pomoć Talheim Records. Na albumu čiji naziv znači protiv svih, se nalaze sedam pjesama, od kojih su neke stvarno malo poduže, ali to u ovom žanru koji sviraju nije problem. Afraid of Destiny sviraju miks melodičnog, atmosferičnog black metala s onim što zovu depressive black metal. No, ovdje nije riječ o nekom trećerazrednom Burzum klonu, već o odličnom melodic black metal bendu koji je do nedavno bio one man project čovjeka zvanog Adimere. No, koliko se vidi iz podataka sada su punokrvni bend. Obožavam kako je ovaj album napisan. Daje točno prekrasnu kombinaciju brzih i očajničkih žestokih blast beatova i sporijih doom pasaža, kao i ambijentalnih klavijaturnih dijelova spojenih sa odlično napisanim gitarama i vokalima koji variraju od izmučenih blackerskih screamova do šaptanja preko govora i clean vokala. Teme kao što su ‘Anti’, ‘Lullaby’ i ‘Breath’ će vas sigurno oduševiti ako volite ovakvu glazbu i shvatiti da je black metal jedan od najboljih žanrova za izražavanje osjećaja i agresije.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 