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Frostgrave
is a two-piece from Israel. Both of their members;
drummer Alcogolik and guitarist-bassist, vocalist
Larenuf, have had more exposure through their other
outlet Tangorodim, whose last two albums have had
Stateside release through Southern Lord. Hymn of the
Dead is no new thing. In fact, it is the only material
this band ever recorded. All the songs included here were written
during 1994 and 1995 and were recorded in 1996. Only
now, the German mighties of Black Hate have issued it in
vinyl limited to 500 copies.
The music is
what one would expect of pure Satanic black metal. It is raw and
chaotic; two adjectives that are so common place in black metal
they rarely describe anything anymore. Typically, thin sounds
dominate the proceedings, as if Satan had a bass allergy. But
that’s kind of the idea, the sleeve itself is inscribed in the
back with the phrase ‘Satanic Evil Metal From the 90’s’. And
that’s all clear here. I don’t even have to check on the
Satanic and on the ‘metal’ aspects of Hymn of the Dead. But when
they say the 90’s, they mean it.
Larenuf plays
the guitar like a champ. He is as good as he is bad, as tight as
he is sloppy. His axe vomits these rhythms that aren’t exactly
sticky or memorable but just as well, do not sound that virulent
or evil. Speed is key and the main concern and by the time we
get to the third track “Funeral Forest” a bulkier sound erupts.
It serves Frostgrave well. It goes to show that even in the 90’s
you could get off slightly from being totally lo fi without
losing all the black metal edge.
Four of the
tracks here are in Russian. None of the song titles are. I
couldn’t tell you much about other Russian elements in this
recording besides a detail about the cover artwork. There is a
house in the back that stands on chicken legs. That’s the hut of
Baba Yaga, a witch of sorts who’s popular in Slavic folklore.
The second
side follows suit. The songs are solid, there is a folksy vibe
on the guitars on “Hell Worker”, all well-disguised in their
under produced sounds. “Black Metal and End” shoots off so fast
that for a few seconds one would presume gets aided by a drum
machine. Frostgrave quickly change though and their speedy
delivery offers flashy BM guitars. The most distinctive song is
the last is titled “Black Metal and End” and has what in the
context of Frostgrave could be described as a ‘true melody’. It
also has such a retro vibe it could grant the line ‘satanic evil
metal from the 80’s’.
Vinyl Rules!
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