Thirst

Arkona/Besatt/Thirst Split
Alles Stenar, 2005
Genre: Black Metal

Arkona: Holokaust Zniewolonych Mas
1. Opętany Bluźnierca
2. Gdzie Bogowie Są Jak Bracia I Siostry (Remix 2005)
3. Holokaust Zniewolonych Mas
Besatt: Diabolus Perfectus
4. Revelation
5. Ave Master Lucifer
6. The Kingdom of Hatred
Thirst: Raise the Blasphemer
7. Armageddon...
8. I'm Blasphemer
9. Raise the Dead

Side Arkona: here
Side Besatt: ...coming eventually...
Side Thirst:

This is my first experience with having ever heard Thirst.  Naturally I only acquired this because of Arkona and Besatt, Thirst was just an added bonus for me.  Depends on who you are of course.  Thirst isn’t necessarily a horrible band by any means, but for me they’re not what I’m looking for.

Basically Thirst play what I’ve come to expect from a typical Symphonic Black Metal band.  Usually they are very well produced and the production on here is no exception.  However, I’m personally not a major fan of much Symphonic Black Metal.  There are a few bands here and there such as Anorexia Nervosa, but by and large I don’t follow the genre all that closely.  I would weigh these fellows on the same tier as Dimmu Borgir (Godless Savage Garden/Spiritual Black Dimensions era), Mystic Circle’s “Infernal Satanic Verses” and to emphasize the generic aspect you could compare them to Ishtar’s “Krig”.  They have everything a Symphonic Black Metal fan wants in sound; majestic and melodic lead passages with keyboards accompanying the back, but not overwhelming the guitars too much.  Complete with a vocal performance that would make Nagash quite proud and a drummer blasting away in the back, but slowing down to emphasize all the right points.  They clearly have the formula down perfectly and the keyboard lines are interesting enough to not seem boring, like you would find on Ancient’s “The Cainian Chronicle,” that album just made me want to drown myself in my pool.  Their part of this split closes up with a pretty killer Bathory cover, and for this one they dropped the keyboards entirely.  I actually like the vocals on this one a little bit more than the original Bathory version, probably because the vocals are more in the forefront.  I’m not a total Black Metal purist where I don’t think keyboards should ever be used, but too many can do my head in sometimes, so I don’t prefer a large dose in my music.

This isn’t Thirst’s debut as they formed in the early 90’s and have a few other releases, but this is my first experience with them.  Unfortunately this didn’t make me want to rush out and buy their other albums.  However, if you are a big fan of Symphonic Black Metal, this would surely be a gem to pick up and you’d probably want to track down their full lengths.  If you’re like me though, you’ll be tracking down the Arkona recordings.