Formed just 9 months ago and apparently comprising of members of bands from the Dutch underground such as Sammath, Kjeld and Noordelingen this is a debut album of ‘black, war metal’ and it’s rather a vicious beast too. There’s not much info about this particular kult to be found really and the album just comprises of 6 savage numbers with a running time of just over half an hour, well I guess that stops me pontificating for once and get down to describing the music itself.
‘De Kult’ batters in with some hefty growls and a bouncy beat before tearing off in hellish fashion. Notice is drawn to the melody and some underlying keyboard symphonics that as the album continues have a bit of an Emperor like feel to them. It is the attack that is the main modus operandi here though as the underlying synths are pretty subtle just adding a bit of flavour to the overall clattering fury. Production is a little on the murky side with everything buzzing furiously as the guitars plough and the drums smack away until everything suddenly stops for the briefest second and the next track ‘De heerser wederkeert’ flies in with another wild scream and goes off like the clappers once again.
On first listen this album kind of had my head spinning due to the calamitous tumult that it makes, it’s particularly wild and windswept, dragging you through a hedge backwards in quite a disorientating fashion and overall it is at first rather difficult to actually keep up with. Further listens have allowed the brutish delivery to grow on me and I have been able to appreciate what is going on behind it all a bit more. Guitars fly up and down the scales momentarily and the vocals become more deranged as things continue. I can’t make out what they are hollering on about or even what language they are in and translation engines don’t even manage to do a proper job on the track titles leaving them still mangled. The sudden drop off of the relentless sawing instrumentation as the third track ‘Holenmuur’ takes form works well and the vocals rise austerely and dictatorially along with a slower brooding approach. Naturally this doesn’t last long and the wildness at the heart of things rears up and gallops off again before long. With the vocals getting more deranged and displaying an ever increasing necrotic hunger behind them.
There’s definitely a feel that takes one back to the early 2nd wave of the black metal scene here and the somewhat primitive barbarism has you thinking of a time before the light when this style was fresh and exciting. You could easily pick up the flavours of Mayhem, Emperor and Darkthrone within this. A spoken passage works particularly well adding to the grim atmospheres and tortured cries and screams send a chill down the spine as the vocalist puts on a versatile and commanding performance. So if you are looking for something short, sharp, spiky and particularly aggressive, overall this should do the job well.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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