‘Black Horror Metal’ since 1991 apparently; that’s this Danish trio. Now how they’ve got to nearly twenty years of existence in this kind of area without me even coming across them before, other than a vague recognition of their logo is a bit of a mystery for me but, better late than never I am finally enlightened.
Swiftly passing over the EP vs Mini Album debate, here we have four track. Two are originals, and two are covers: Bathory’s ‘Call From The Grave’ and another complete unknown Exuma’s ‘Mama Loi, Papa Loi’ who don’t even seem to rate an entry in Metal Archives…? Weird. Might be Hungarian, might not.
Anyway. ‘The Shapeless Mass’ opens up with a fairly standard riff that, as the gargled, gruff Abbath-esque vocals kick in suddenly morphs into a very Amon Amarth sound- good solid riff with the melody carried by a tremolo sound over the top. Lyric wise though it’s much more occult than Viking though. The production I don’t think does it any favours, but doesn’t do it any harm either. It’s kinda catchy, well done really, little touches of more traditional heavy metal in there too. It’s ok. ‘The Statues Are Watching’ has less Viking and more black metal feel, a bit tempestuous, speeding guitar with a cool riff and an almost Maidenesque breakdown. Not bad at all.
The Bathory cover is…well it’s a Bathory cover, doesn’t really add anything to the original or take away. It is what it is.
Then we get to this here unknown Exuma cover. Quiet guitar intro, soft dark and melodic, almost a touch of Danzig here. Half whispered, half spoken vocals. The atmosphere is thick, and dark. Voodoo weaves and zombies shuffle to the glistening melody. Slow, sparse and with a huge hook to the refrain it is just mesmerising. “I see fire in a dead man’s eye..” Have to say I have no idea about the original but this is fantastic – part Alice Cooper meets Danzig, part Lordi gone black metal. Best track here and a great closer.
I have no better idea of what Denial Of God are about from this but it is fun and rather well done. Just it waits for that last song to truly blaze. Worth it just for that though, frankly, so indulge!
(6/10 Gizmo)
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