World Terror Committee, 2009
Genre: Black Metal
1. Opening Mass (Let Us Pray)
2. Kriegspsalm
3. Manifest (Blood Religion Part II)
4. Chaos Prayer: Deus Bellum
5. Crisis of Faith
6. Döende Generations Dom
7. Ödesjord
8. Bloodsband
9. Hirdsång
10. Folkstorm
11. Sacrament (Blood Religion Part I)
12. Endtime Communion
It's been quite a few years since "Blodsband" saw the light of day. It had a beautiful vinyl press in 2005, which I also own, but am not going to bother to review in light of this 2009 repress. Unfortunately, I did not get a booklet as many of them also did not. The real draw for the vinyl, back in 2005 was the additional track "Endtime Communion". It also featured an untitled track, but if you were paying attention you recognized this as the secret track after "Commie Scum" ends on the original CD. Here the secret track comes on after waiting a couple minutes for "Endtime Communion" to end. So this really is a very complete work!
The remastering is actually pretty well done and I enjoy being able to revisit this album in all it's full glory. With the cover song being removed from the original edition, the listener never has the albums flow interrupted, which is one of the biggest draws for me to own this re-edition. Even though "Endtime Communion" was composed in 2004-2005 it sits pretty well as the closer of "Blodsband" and clocks in at an over ten minute epic. While some may consider the original edition a true classic, I really think this is the proper rendition of the immersive Sigrblot experience. The booklet has only undergone some slight changes, mostly to accommodate the additional lyrics for "Endtime Communion." There is liner note at the end that I found particularly interesting though. "Lyrics authored in stages of adolescent idealism to young adult repulsion during 1996 to 2000". While "Blodsband" stands as a wonderful piece of controversial art, I do wonder if this note means certain ideals have changed with the members involved.
If you missed out on the first iteration of this great album, now is your chance to hear it in a much fuller form. I really do consider Sigrblot a must listen project for fans of Black Metal. They did something fairly different and compelling on "Blodsband". Highly recommended!
The Shitagogue Records, 2008
Genre: Black Metal
Absurd:
1. Weltenfeind
2. Black Hand of Death
3. Ulfhednir-Todesschwadron
4. Die Gesandten des Grauens (Der Fluch Cover)
Grand Belial's Key:
5. It Bribes the Heavens
6. Mourners Flock to Gethsemane
7. Yahweh's Charlatan's
8. Can't Tell No One
Sigrblot:
9. Braadödha Vindh Diävuls Andadräth)
10. Exiles of the Golden Age
11. Varg i Veum
12. Kali Yuga Intifada
Side Absurd: ...coming eventually...
Side Grand Belial's Key: ...coming eventually...
Side Sigrblot:
When I saw Sigrblot had new material forthcoming, I was naturally very excited. It's been quite a while since we've heard from the project and I was interested to see what new hymns of hatred they would spew forth. After such a long wait we only get to hear four new songs from the project. That is fine, in some respects, at this point hearing anything new should be satisfactory. The version of this album I have is limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies and I own #107.
I think Sigrblot realized they needed to do something somewhat different for the newer material and what they did came out alright, but I wouldn't say it truly competes with "Blodsband". One of the major changes you hear is that they added a layer of acoustic guitars over most of the distorted sections. While this gives the songs a very different feel, I'm not sure they have the same compelling intensity of the full-length. I think they were reaching for more of an atmospheric blend into their music, but I feel like that is sort of at odds with the way Sigrblot presents their music. "Kali Yuga Intifada" really hits a great mark though. That song has an immense atmosphere. I actually enjoyed the songs on here, but as a whole I'm not sure they were markedly better than the debut. It is nice to see that Sigrblot is trying out different things though and if they can balance that atmosphere with their vicious Black Metal perfectly they would have a really strong composition on their hands.
Sigrblot have some solid material, as I have come to expect from them. The split itself is very beautiful. The booklet is massive with a lot of great art and printed lyrics. It does have an interesting statement on the back: "This release is dedicated to those who know by heart that extreme art and extremist opinion are but two sides of the same coin. True Black Metal is a crime against humanity!" Even so, I still think Sigrblot's lyrics on "Blodsband" were more extreme. Still, this is certainly worth getting.
Nordiska Förlaget, 2003
Genre: Black Metal
1. Opening Mass (Let Us Pray)
2. Kriegspsalm
3. Manifest (Blood Religion Part II)
4. Chaos Prayer: Deus Bellum
5. Crisis of Faith
6. Döende Generations Dom
7. Ödesjord
8. Bloodsband
9. Hirdsång
10. Folkstorm
11. Sacrament (Blood Religion Part I)
12. Commie Scum (Fortress Cover)
I remember when Sigrblot first unleashed itself upon the music scene. I loved this release immediately, but many decried it's extremity as being NSBM, which it's really not. The band has stated no political ideology influences them. The album cover is certain a different level of extreme. It has two flying angels striking down two towers, which I can only assume is an allegory to the 9/11 attacks in New York. I really only know how that is perceived in my country of the U.S., so I'm not sure how the rest of the world really viewed what happened. The members of Sigrblot may have seen this as a clear sign that Islam is declaring war on the western world. I've read that there are serious issues in Sweden concern members of that religion and a lot of Black Metal bands are very unhappy with it. It's prompting bands like Lord Belial to write songs like "Purify Sweden".
I do not think this cover stands a celebration of violence, but as a realization that it is a serious warning and they will fight back against such ideologies. If you read the lyrics you hit upon a line "...crush and annihilate the desert tribe chokehold!" If you look at it from the Black Metal perspective in Europe perhaps they feel like they're being invaded by the Middle East once again. First it was Christianity that brought the Nordic people under their boot and now they see Islam invading their culture. Sigrblot is not about politics, its about creating awareness of cultural preservation and how it is important to preserve some shred of history. Perhaps they are facing a cultural change where it is politically incorrect to criticise other religions and we all know how that can get a Black Metal band riled up. Sometimes intolerance is a good thing. For them it means to preserve your own culture and I can understand that point of view if one is feeling threatened. To read through this album and dismiss it as Nazism would be to have missed the point. In the same song it says "revocation of government" and this is hardly something a pro-Nazi project would cry out given their heavy interest in dictatorships. In fact this album really has a very somber feel to it lyrically, as sort of a reminiscence of how we have all lost something to these modern ways of life. I know a lot of the bands hailing out of the Ukraine sing a similar song. I think some people can read through this and think this is all about how the white race is the master race, but I'm not sure that is true. The emphasis seems heavily on cultural preservation rather than race preservation.
I don't think this album can properly be engaged unless you sit down and give the writing some thought. So now that that's out of the way, we turn our ears to the music. The vocalist sounds an awful lot like Arioch from Funeral Mist. I have heard good rumors about his involvement in the project and while I think he tries to mask his usual rasp found in Funeral Mist, there are some tonalities that show through. If he's not the vocalist, then he's probably the guitarist because either of these options make sense to me. The breath of the lyrical concepts definitely hints at his usual style. His penitent for being highly influenced by the books he reads shines through in many of his artistic creations. In fact the lyrics read more like essays rather than your usual lyrical format. So that's my educated guess on his involvement.
Sigrblot play a vicious and intense style of Black Metal typical of the fastest Swedish bands and there is some serious resemblance to the style Marduk plays. At least that's the style I think they most sound like. However, there are moments when they hit upon some folk styled riffs and they sound very much Satyricon's "Dark Medieval Times", which is a wonderful thing to hear referenced. Sigrblot's songs are very well crafted and they cover a good blend of viciously intense and beautiful melody. This doesn't come across as a derivative project at all and in fact stands as a very fresh release for when this came out. One of the reasons this album gets labeled as NSBM is because the album closes with "Commie Scum" a cover by the Australian band Fortress. Lyrically that song is clearly racists, but racism doesn't equal Nazism. You can certainly be racist and not be a Nazis, but I'm pretty sure you have to be racists to be a Nazis. The songs lyrics are sort of confusing, but it seems the main point is to be against Communism. In any event, I'm not sure it was a good choice of a cover, because it really breaks up the albums aesthetic. Furthermore there's another original song right after "Commie Scum" which suddenly tries to bring us back into the atmosphere Sigrblot developed before. So we go from intense Black Metal, to Oi, then to a sombre and moody track of Black Metal to fully close off the album. This just makes things too confusing. Luckily the vast majority of the album is consistent and for that I give it very high marks indeed.
If you haven't been exposed to Sigrblot sooner is better than later. It is definitely a middle finger to all the politically correct culture infused in our society today. Maybe you will not agree with them, maybe you will, but at the end of the day I think this is a decent conversational piece. I, personally, don't think it is too outlandish to integrate two peoples or cultures or more, but I think it does beg the question of how much is too much in the sense of one culture being consumed by the other. Does a culture have a good claim to want to preserve itself in the face of that? These are the difficult topics Sigrblot is bringing up and with their cover standing as a symbol, it asks how much is too far?
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