If you like your black metal to feel particularly barbed with spiteful venom then you are totally in the right place with Finnish mob Graveborne. Their debut album ‘Pure Negativity’ made their intentions clear on release in 2011 and listening to these nine new anti-hymns created a quick impression over me that this lot are certainly not screwing around. Musically Through The Window Of The Night goes like the clappers from the opening drum salvo of the effectively named ‘Burn The City Of God’ through to stormy conclusion.
Screamer Raato has a well-defined rasp about him and words such as Satan and Kill are flung out with zealous enthusiasm. Underlying melodies are tenacious and get through the blazing fiery frenzy and with the songs cleaving away at an average four minute duration nothing overstays its welcome at all here. A couple of songs such as ‘Tiesi päähän’ are yelled out in their native language and even if there is much less chance of working out what they are ranting about it’s pretty evident that they are far from happy. The song slows a bit into a leaden groove allowing the power behind them to particularly come through before it belts fuss speed ahead again. I am reminded a bit of the likes of Endstille and mid era Marduk by this assault fuelled album and the beastly Slaytanic vibe of Gorgoroth permeates at times but Graveborne sound pretty unique with it too and certainly don’t give the impression of a band that follow others.
The band blaze through things effortlessly here and the likes of ‘Misericordia’ drag you into their feudal sounding guitar weaves and the vocalist again impresses with a particularly eccentric passage of rabid throaty gurgles. ‘Into The Abyss’ at under three minutes proves that this is black metal that does not feel the need to repeat and use the riffs to mesmerise you for drawn out convoluted periods of time. It simply batters away and screams in your face like a drill sergeant to a troop of particularly useless soldiers, right up close and personal.
There’s plenty of enthusiasm and conviction about this album and I bet it spills over onto the stage and the band are a pretty effective force live too. This is no gaze through the window you are literally flung through it in a shower of glass realising all too late that you are fifty floors up and just about to free-fall and land with an almighty splat.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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