Witches Sabbath Records, 2017
Genre: Black Metal
1. Ancient Forest Gates (Wandering I)
2. Born of Steel Obscurity
3. Envenom the Viscera of Revenge
4. Blood Moon Empire
5. Untrodden Fullmoon Paths (Wandering II)
6. The Triumph of Wolfish Destiny
7. The Honoured Liege
8. The Rise of the Wolven Sun
9. Winter Ruins and Memory (Wandering III)
I guess Blood Stronghold isn't signing with Dark Than Black after all? Well, now they're back with Witches Sabbath and their second full-length release. This is simultaneously one of the best and most disappointing releases for me. The whole package and layout are great on this release and Blood Stronghold was certainly taken in a different and forward thinking direction musically.
"Triumph of Wolfish Destiny" has some of the more interesting music I was able to hear this year. It feels very different when compared with a lot of other material that is typically produced. The major difference here is the incredibly different lead guitar work thrown into the mix. They maintain that sort of Graveland inspired rhythm section, but Nightwolf throws in these really interesting lead guitar lines over the sections to really expand the overall impact and sound of the songs. It gives them this really amazing quality that goes beyond just the "epic" feeling qualities in prior albums. Just listen to the way the lead work plays out with "Envenom the Viscera of Revenge", which really brings the music to a whole other level, but my absolute favorite track on here is "Blood Moon Empire"
Now, usually Blood Stronghold doesn't bother with printing lyrics, but this time they decided to print lyrics for one of their songs, "The Honoured Liege". Now, given this is out in 2017, I can't help but think the political climate of the world helped motivate this and it appears they're going to double down, which I'm not surprised by. I was always somewhat suspicious of the more NS leanings of this band given the labels they work with. Witches Sabbath has pressed L.S.S.A.H. material, for example and anyone into Black Metal knows Darker Than Black. Now, I don't care if you sing about heritage or your peoples or whatever, hell bands like Rudra do that. But with lines like:
"14 stars illuminate the true heritage
Sons of Arya, we must secure our existence"
I'm sorry, the 14, I'm sure, probably alludes to the well known 14 words and please, Sons of Arya... I get it. First off, you're existence isn't threatened. I know people that believe this garbage like to carry around this narrative that our "racial" existence is in danger... it's not. I'm just going to think your ideas on this topic are stupid. The fact that this is the only song with lyrics printed makes me think they really felt the need to make this statement to show their "allegiance". A lot of bands seem to be doubling down in this regard with Famine from Peste Noire going, basically, full NS despite in the past trying to explain how he he's not a Nazi...
It's a real shame, great music, great album, terrible ideology. Grimspirit of Evilfeast returns to do their intro on this album, but since he put out tapes by Revenge, I'm not entirely surprised to see him running on this side of things. Ah well, readers can do what they want with this info.
Darker Than Black, 2016
Genre: Black Metal
1. Intro
2 Frozen Memory of the Dark Sky
3. In the Mists of the Immortal Past
4. Legacy (Of Wolves, War and Thunder)
5. Blood Split in the Earth's Viscera
6. Dying Flame of a Pale Sun
7. Transgressing the Forest Depths
If you've missed out on the early stages of Blood Stronghold you now have a chance to hear this material. This compilation features the demo, their first 7" EP and the recently released demo song now on CD. On top of that the material has been re-mastered, probably to create a level of cohesiveness on the tracks. However, we all benefit from that with having better quality mastering on the older material.
The major feature of this compilation is being able to get the more rare material on CD for the first time ever. While the track from the split tape sounds a little better, it still feels quite raw compared to the other material on this, but at least people that missed out on the split can finally hear it. The only major complaint I have about this compilation is that the artwork concept did not translate to the high gloss digi-pak format very well. It's extremely hard to read anything on this. It was pretty difficult before, but now it's nearly impossible.
Darker Than Black, 2015
Genre: Black Metal
Blood Stronghold:
1. Transgressing the Forest Depths
Duch Czerni:
2. Opętujące szepty zagłady
Side Duch Czerni: ...probably never...not into DSBM
Side Blood Stronghold:
I was kind of surprised to see a split tape come out from this project in the same year that the EP was released, but this is more of a demo quality tape. Perhaps it's to signify the switch to working with a new label. This tape is limited to 111 copies and there doesn't appear to be any individual numbering. The cassette and booklet are pro-printed.
When I say the tape is more of a demo quality I'm referring to the production. The Blood Stronghold song feels very under-produced compared to their prior efforts. However, the song itself feels like it's pushing in a bit of a different direction from their previous material. It feels heavier and more epic to a certain degree, so I wonder if this is also signalling a new direction for Blood Stronghold. They are still trying to maintain that general atmosphere of before, but this song sort of ups the intensity levels a little bit more. I'm definitely interested in seeing where the project is going to go after this.
Witches Sabbath Productions, 2015
Genre: Black Metal
1. In the Arms of a Fullmoon Night
2. The March of Apparitions
3. Beneath Twilight Wings
4. The Abyssal Call...
For Blood Stronghold 2015 starts off with a new EP from the project. It spans four songs and only twenty-five minutes. Which is certainly almost a full-length Death Metal album... but this is Black Metal so for us it's an EP. Only two of the songs are truly lengthy and the other two are a more normal song length. The booklet for this EP actually features the lyrics for the songs on the album, so that's a bit of a change from the debut.
Musically, given how soon after it's coming after the debut, feels like a continuation of the "From Sepulchral Remains" album. The artwork and general layout are nearly exactly the same. Since this material is all self recorded the production value certainly hasn't changed much in such a short amount of time. So, if you really like that blend described in the debut then you'll certainly enjoy this EP as well. It's so similar that it makes me wonder if these were just songs that didn't make it to the debut. The title track feels even more Graveland inspired than anything else Blood Stronghold has ever done, it almost feels like a "Creed of Iron" track at some points. Meanwhile the closing track feels very similar to an Evilfeast song!
All in all, it's certainly a good EP. It's really not much different than the debut, so if you wanted more of that sound they've certainly delivered. Personally, I'm not a big fan of EP's I tend to listen to them a lot less frequently than full-lengths, so I can't say I'll pull this out more often than the debut.
Witches Sabbath Productions, 2014
Genre: Black Metal
1. Eternal Wrath of Dark Gods
2. Ancient Mystery of the Moon
3. Stronghold of Forgotten Blood
4. From Sepulchral Remains...
5. Lost Upon the Nameless Wind (Sign of the Forgotten Dawn)
6. To Distant Shores Aflame
7. Fortress of Nightly Desolation
8. The Spirit, Devoured by the Cold Soil of the Earth
This is the third release from Blood Stronghold in 2014 and we finally get a glimpse into a full-length production from the project. It's shocking to see an EP hit so fast after a demo, but to have the full-length in our hands by the end of that same year is even more ridiculous. Personally, I would have waited and sat on the material instead of cranking out the releases. I remember when these all came out and it seemed like the project was hard to keep up with and I was worried we had another Hellveto on our hands. Luckily that ended up not being the case and this project was easier to keep up with release wise.
"From Sepulchral Remains" immerses us into the world of Blood Stronghold for a solid forty-five minutes. In this regard I find it to be a much better experience than the overall briefness of the prior two releases, since Blood Stronghold sit in that realm of Atmospheric Black Metal that has a more expansive and epic quality to it. With that being the case I prefer a much longer experience to enjoy the songs. The album has an ambient intro created by Grim Spirit of Evilfeast and it's got that Evilfeast feel to it to a certain degree with the way he plays around with ambiance. Another break from Black Metal on this release is with the song "To Distant Shores Aflame" and this heavily reminded me of some old Arcana material.
As the full-length unfolds I feel like Blood Stronghold is musically a blend of middle-era Graveland with Nightwolf's other project Eternum. It has that slow plodding feel albums like "Creed of Iron" have, but it's cast in a far more atmospheric light. I will say Krew is certainly a far more solid drummer than Rob. The overall production of the album feels really dense with fairly quiet mastering, so be prepared to turn that volume up! The dense production adds to the cavern like feel of the atmosphere, so it really works for the overall Blood Stronghold experience.
I really quite enjoy Atmospheric Black Metal and I really enjoyed the debut full-length from this project, but as the years have gone on I'm not sure how much it holds up in the test of time. It's a good CD, but it's not something I've been returning to over and over again because I simply must sit in this musical space one more time. As this project grows that might change, but I haven't listened to this album in quite a while since I first got it a few years ago.
Witches Sabbath Productions, 2014
Genre: Black Metal
1. Blood Spilt in the Earth's Viscera
2. Dying Flame of a Pale Sun
A few months after their first demo tape Blood Stronghold returned with two more songs on this 7" vinyl. This EP is limited to 300 hand-numbered copies and I own #292.
Cranking out an EP this soon after your demo is kind of strange and made me wonder why they just didn't wait and include this material, but when you listen to this material you realize it wouldn't really fit. It's strange to say, but the music on here sounds thematically quite different, so I can understand why a separate release was warranted. If you enjoyed "The Immortal Past" this EP advances that style quite a bit. The first song is very beautiful and has more of a melancholic atmosphere compared to the demo. The second song is really different. "Dying Flame of a Pale Sun" starts off with what we'd expect from this project, but then they really up the tempo at some point. This is by far the fastest from this project so far. The vocals also trend more to the usual screaming kind that is normal in Black Metal and I enjoyed this shift quite a bit. The song still maintains a heavy and dense atmosphere like all the others. The only major issue is that with the production this raw with so much reverb, the fast sections feel more chaotic than anything else. There's almost too much going on too fast to really make out all the elements. However, the entire song isn't fast, so for most of the song we have that majestic atmosphere we're looking for.
In the end we have two new excellent tracks and I just hope this projects productivity doesn't run away with them. Naturally, I want more songs and I would love to see a full-length from the project at this point soon, so hopefully they can keep up the quality this high.
Hammerbolt Productions, 2014
Genre: Black Metal
1. Frozen Memory of the Dark Past
2. In the Mists of the Immortal Past
3. Legacy (Of Wolves, War & Thunder)
Blood Stronghold is a bit of a super group considering it's two members have played in quite a lot of projects. The main composer behind the material is from Australia and has done great projects like Eternum and the drummer Krew, has been in so many bands I can't keep track. One of the more well known is Gontyna Kry. In any event when Blood Stronghold released a debut album later in 2014 it went around the web really fast and I wound up back tracking and getting everything else they had put out and I've been a loyal fan ever since. This release was original put out on cassette by Witches Sabbath Records a few months before the CD edition. Since I usually prefer CD's I picked up this version and it comes in a beautiful digipak. The only complaint I have about the design is the font color is so dark you can't really read any of it.
"The Immortal Past" reminds me a lot of Graveland for some reason. It has a very similar feel and pacing to the music, even the vocals are reminiscent of the Rob Darken style. I've heard some great bands inspired by Gravelend, but a lot of times they mostly clone what Rob does and they don't advance it as much. Blood Stronghold is an entirely different approach to the Graveland foundation, in my opinion. Instead of driving down the path of Paganism and keyboard driven atmosphere, Blood Stronghold just sounds so much darker. They draw more on the creations of Atmospheric Black Metal to build their particular musical space. The result is something that just feels entirely different and really advances that core foundation. Quite a few of the old Black Metal bands had this sort of core approach with their mid-paced compositions, and Blood Stronghold bring back a lot of those ideas, but they also push them forward for the modern era. Which might not be their intention... but that's ultimately what they did. One of the things you'll find most interesting is how this project handles the lead guitars, because the lead material feels really different from what we're used to with these rhythm backdrops. It creates a really dense and beautiful atmosphere. The production is extremely raw, so the production snobs of the modern era need not apply. For example, the lead guitars are blended into the rhythms so seamlessly it's hard to tell they're there, but when a rhythm sections stops you can hear it. They don't cut through, they're more subtle in the mix and creating this really interesting texture.
As far as debuts go, this is an excellent first effort, but I would expect that from such experienced musicians that have already been well established. The one and only complaint I can level at this is I'm not big on this vocal approach. The low raspy, mostly talked, Black Metal vocal is fairly uninteresting to me. Whenever someone takes this approach I always wonder what it would be like with a better vocalist. These types of vocals are good for certain parts, but a whole release of them can get boring for me vocally. Luckily the music is so strong the vocals just kind of fade to the background for me. So, if you're a fan of mid-paced atmospheric Black Metal or interested in seeing a new take on that old Polish Pagan style of Black Metal, this is a must hear.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete