“Immortalitate
Malum”, the immortal evil, is a fresh split CD from Dominance of
Darkness Records. Joining together the three Black Metal bands
Sacrilegious Rite, Dethroned and Goatblood, all located in the
South-West of Germany, this release contains 40 minutes of material.
And the sounds that have been captured by these three underground
bands delivers exactly what one would expect: pleasantly unmodern and
gimmick-free Black Metal played in the old vein.
Sacrilegious Rite
make an impressive start with three songs that appear very varied and
thought out. Dark bluntness dictates the majority of the songs but on
second glance, they offer much more than merely that. Subtle
alterations in pace and force, some highly enjoyable melodic parts
and a great morbid atmosphere clearly show that Sacrilegious Rite
definitely know their game and how to present themselves. Although
their part of the split flows nicely and works best as a whole, the
opener “I Believe” stands out simply due to the tremendous
riffing and the hammering drums that force the notes into the
listener's ear.
Next up are
Dethroned. These Saarlandians can look back on over 20 years of
activity and this definitely shows. All the virtues that made
Sacrilegious Rite good are to be found here too - but Dethroned even
manage to take this to the next level. Clearly, the members seem to
be influenced by more classic Black Metal, and their sound is living
proof of this. Their tracks are fast and melodic, more grounded in
the higher frequencies and even more varied than the aforementioned
material. Whereas “Karnifex” and “Schattensklave” hit hard
and heavy, “Traumessplitter” and “Gen Acheron” are much more
melancholic (the latter even being an acoustic ballad). All of these
styles work well, but the harsher contributions are probably the most
fitting and the best parts of “Immortalitate Malum”. However, the
same well executed and sick vocals offer a nice narration either way.
The final
contributors are Goatblood, which features members of Genocide and
Decibel Rebels. And it is absolutely obvious that they are the rawest
and least polished band on the “Immortalitate Malum” split. In a
way, their six minutes conjure up memories of some 90ies Black Metal
classics whose style borders on Death Metal. This is definitely the
case here, too. Dark growls, a very fleshy and brutish sound and slow
drumming fly the flag of metal simplicity as proudly and
unapologetically as possible. Although Goatblood don't reach the
level of the other two bands, it surely isn't bad and is probably
supposed to come off as what it is.
All in all,
“Immortalitate Malum” is a very good CD. Especially Sacrilegious
Rite and Dethroned are far above average and incredibly direct and
convincing. The same goes for the production value of the sound and
packaging. A very ambitious project that deserves to be taken
seriously and comes highly recommended to Black Metal fans.
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