MASSEMORD / THE FRONT / VALDUR
3-Way Split
(BlackMetal.com)

FUNEBRARUM
The Sleep of Morbid Dreams
(Cyclone Empire)

EASPA MEASA / SILENCE
Split
(Acclaim / Sadness of Noise)

BURMESE
Monkeys Tear Man to Shreds, Man Never Forgives Ape, Man Destroys Environment
(Enterruption)

CONSTANTS
The Foundation, The Machine, The Ascension
(The Mylene Sheath)

AMBASSADOR GUN
When in Hell

(Pangea)

DUSTED ANGEL
7"

(Corrupt Rcordings)

MORE REVIEWS

This three way compilation comes from BlackMetal.com and includes bands from three countries. It ‘secretly’ tucks in an uncredited fourth band from the US called Everwinter. Strange. What the motivation is behind that I don’t know. Regardless, Splitss like this one are at times much better at showcasing band’s abilities than full-lengths filled with subpar crap in the second half.

First up is Valdur out of California. Their three songs / mini CD is titled Battlescars and doing justice to the snow covered tree branches in the cover does sound like something that could have come out from Norway in the dead of winter. Maybe it is the rigid but constant guitar hanging in the background like a creepy child that will grow to be a pervert or maybe it is the grandfatherly (but powerful and enraged) vocal approach, but their three songs are quite stellar and horrific. Rudimentary and natural, Valdur songs are blasted and splashed with unstoppable drumming. If they went about for much longer Valdur could be lumped a step above the sound of a band like Wolves in the Throne Room. Except, this is much much more raw, lo fi, loose and diabolic sounding.

The Frost out of Croatia are next and their four songs (plus an outro) come under the Sounds of the Frozen Hate name. The guitars have a less fuzzy, less distorted, yet equally wicked sound. But the playing is equally wavy, the riff in “From the Heart of Wilderness” for instance, moves at mid tempo, melodic and ageless, somewhat epic before turning back to speed with the echo-laden vocals of Kletvenik floating ghostly somewhere between here, there and beyond .  “Eternal Spring of Sorrow and Death” is only their second song, but at this point their style is clearly established, their territory is demarked or this is just the same song as the first. The outro (titled “Forest’s Shepherd”) is quite nice, with coals burning in the back it evokes everything that is nice about freezing your ass off in the middle of nowhere.

Third in the count is Massemord (Norwegian for 'mass murder') out of the non-black metal city of Bergen. Right. This is My War is only  one more recording in the extensive discography of Lord Hastur Warmachine who has mostly operated on his own under the Massemord moniker. His five songs are typical of what one could consider the angle of every other one man BM project. The sound is stiff, the melodies are rigid, the tempo offers little to no variation. In songs like “Black Metal Maniacs” an old school speed metal riff dominates. The song rules precisely because of that. Adding the crispy vocals adds to the oddity factor. Overall, once you get past the whole Massemord recording you come to realize that of these three, this is the most versatile act.

Lastly, ignored and unnamed, but not for that least, comes Everwinter. The five songs here included are the whole of their Final Victory demo from 2003. This band would go onto issue a split with Deceiverion in 2003 only to break up later. Guitarist Decimator overdosed in 2006, and shit, that’s what happens when you decimate drugs. His style at the strings is blurry and ultra fast, like a curtain of sound that sweeps you and slams you. Their music is confidently executed, solid and stoic. There wasn’t much to differentiate them from the masses and compared to the three other bands that share disc space with them, Everwinter was for sure the lesser band.

Massemord MySpace

The Frost MySpace
Valdur MySpace

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