Funeral Winds

Funeral Winds - Sekhmet
 New Era Productions, 2015
Genre: Black Metal

1. Seven Arrows, Knife and Flame - Sekhmet
2. Sinister Creed













After the successful release of "Nexion XUL" I had no idea Funeral Winds would essentially go on the back burner for quite a while. Just when I thought Funeral Winds was about to hit their prime the whole project just stopped. Well here are eight years later and suddenly I started seeing posts surface about new recordings. I was, naturally, very excited about this since I really enjoyed the last two Funeral Winds albums. Probably to prove the project wasn't dead they quickly released two new songs on this 7" release, which I ordered as soon as I could. This release is limited to 500 copies, but no limitation is listed on the packaging.

The two new songs from Funeral Winds are certainly promising. Sadly Balgradon is no longer drumming in the project, I imagine things got too busy with Infinity, since that is his main project. Funeral Winds is now down to just Hellchrist and a session from from Germany calling himself MZI. MZI drums for the band Kvltist. He does a great job with the Funeral Winds material, he's a bit more heavy on the blasting than Balgradon was and he, naturally, lacks the overall flair Balgradon threw into his arrangements. Unfortunately, most drummers don't do that kind of arranging. So, the new Funeral Winds falls into the brand of Black Metal that is a more punishing blast heavy style. Luckily Hellchrist's riffs match this style perfectly and we get a very evil and intense sounding composition. The second song "Sinister Creed" has some serious Gorgoroth worship going on and that was interesting to hear, because with the Gorgoroth style drums it creates this sort of grinding effect (no, not like the genre). Switching between that and the more standard arrangement for Funeral Winds created quite an excellent song, the only bad part of the song is that it is quite short at under three minutes. However, if this is is indicative of what's to come from Funeral Winds on a future full-length I am absolutely excited and eager to hear it. It may not be like the glory days, but it sounds like it will certainly be a great release nonetheless.

Funeral Winds - Nexion XUL
Sadolust Records, 2007
Genre: Black Metal

1. The Old Serpent Stirs
2. Fasten Upon Mankind the Eye of Death
3. The Blood of Chaos
4. Anzu
5. The Cursed Bloodline
6. The Luminous Dissolves
7. Den of the Malignant Ones
8. Alkatu Destroyed
9. I Call Upon the Deep






After the amazing "Koude Haat" I was really excited to hear the next album from Funeral Winds. At least we didn't have to wait as long between albums this time around, but it still took a while before this one came out. Still, I'm more a proponent of not rushing an album and I'd rather musicians work slowly and really put out the best material they can come up with rather than just put out albums for the sake of putting out albums. Now, if you were expecting "Koude Haat" part two, that's not really what we've got here.

"Nexion XUL" is a pretty good follow-up to "Koude Haat", but I'm still reeling from how excellent that album was. Personally, I don't think "Nexion XUL" is a better album, but it is a very good album nonetheless. Funeral Winds have finally put that extra something into their music that makes me coming back for more. There is a lot of similarities between the two albums, but "Nexion XUL" sounds more powerful and evil and a lot of that is coming from the production as well as the riffs. Just listen to "The Cursed Bloodline" and you'll see what I mean. It seems Hellchrist has gotten tired of dealing with other studios and merely created his own. Balgradon recorded the drums in his own studio. The end result is production that seems a bit cleaner, but also feels a bit more compressed compared to the insanity of "Koude Haat". "Nexion XUL" has much better production and everything is a lot more balanced, so the strength of the recording really shows through quite a bit more. "Koude Haat" felt a lot more untamed by comparison, but it also felt way more vicious and intense because of that fact. "Nexion XUL" feels more tame, but at the same time a lot darker and more evil, which I believe is really what Hellchrist has always wanted his music to sound like, but just wasn't achieving that feel, especially in the early days. Back then he wasn't writing riffs that sounded very threatening, but on "Nexion XUL" they're all over the place, so it makes for a much more immense listen.

While "Nexion XUL" sounds and feels different from "Koude Haat" it's still an excellent album. It's has a lot of great songs on here and a performance that certainly exceeds what we heard on "Koude Haat". It will certainly be interesting to see where Funeral Winds takes things from here now that I believe they're starting to lock into their sound.

Funeral Winds - Koude Haat
Death to Mankind Records, 2004
Genre: Black Metal

1. When the Funeral Winds Cry for Revenge
2. Soul Harvest
3. Koude Haat
4. Carnage in the Temple of Jeruzalem
5. From the Depth of the Earth
6. The Wicked are the Wise
7. Dawn of the Bestial Bloodshed
8. The Beast Within
9. Raised by the Fury of the Ancient Ones






Funeral Winds has had quite the hiatus going since the release of their debut and even longer when you consider that album was recorded back in 1995. So it's been nearly a decade since Funeral Winds has reared its hateful head. The hiatus proved to be a good thing in my mind because here we have "Koude Haat", one of the most hateful and vicious sounding Black Metal albums around.

As seems to be typical with Funeral Winds there have been more line-up changes, but here we have a new drummer that truly fits perfectly with this sound, Balgradon XUL. Balgradon is from the band Infinity and I highly encourage people to check out this project as well! "Koude Haat" wouldn't be nearly as awesome of a release if it wasn't for Balgradon's masterful drum work taking Hellchrist's riffs and making them into a punishing force. It sort of reminds me of the work Endstille is putting out at this time. This raw and cold style of Black Metal, but Funeral Winds throws a good deal more catchy riffs into the mix. The real stand out for that is the chorus to "Koude Haat", which is by far my favorite song on the album. I actually quite like the production on this album, because while it has this sort of raw lo-fi quality, you can still hear everything pretty well. It has this razor sharp thinned out guitar feel, but with the roaring bass to fill out the rest of the spectrum it works really well. The drums are really powerful, perhaps a bit too loud in the mix at times, but it works well enough.

"Koude Haat" is an extremely good album and quite a shock coming out of Funeral Winds, because their prior material wasn't exactly like this. This album has such raw cold hatred underlying every moment that it is just perfect from beginning to end. Now that Funeral Winds has hit this level of composition I'm really looking forward to anything they do next, I hope they won't be on hiatus for nearly as long and they don't have line-up changes. I, especially, hope they don't lose this drummer because he is perfect for this project.

Funeral Winds - Godslayer XUL
Daimonion, 1998
Genre: Black Metal

1. For the Glory of XUL
2. A Diabolical Meeting
3. Thy Eternal Flame
4. Visions of Afterlife
5. Resurrection of the Five Winds
6. When Twilight Shines Over the Forgotten Fields
7. Screaming for Grace
8. Night of the Utterdark
Inferi:
9. The Raven's Son (Birth of a Warlock
10. December (Cry for War)
11. Siren Voice of the Ancient
12. In the Sign of Chaos

It seems like it took quite a while for Funeral Winds to finally get a full-length out and when you read into this release there were a lot of problems. When you read the liner notes you'll find this was recorded all the way back in 1995, but it didn't see the light of day until 1998. It's strange because there were some serious line-up changes from even the split with Abigail. They have an entirely new drummer on this release. I also missed out on the original 1998 press of this release and I own the re-release from 2002 published by Death to Mankind Records. This has bonus tracks from a side project called Inferi that also features almost everyone in Funeral Winds. However, this was a side project called Inferi which were recorded in 1997, but were never released until now.

The debut album from Funeral Winds covers a lot of new territory and features re-recordings of some earlier songs. I wonder if they just wanted to hear the earlier songs with the new drummer who is clearly much better than the original drummer they had, but he was getting much better with every release, so it's strange to see them switch. Anyway this album starts off with the campiest intro song ever, "For the Glory of XUL". If it only had the "eerie" keyboards it would have been fine, but then the guttural vocals kick in saying something stupid and it just kills it. It sounds lame and campy. So, I was surprised that after such a bad start things picked up quite a bit better. I sort of new what to expect after hearing the other Funeral Winds albums, but I was impressed with how good the new drummer sounds. He's a lot more solid and clearly much faster, I think he outpaces the guitars in a couple parts so it feels off here and there. This was recorded in the same studio as all their other material, but this album sounds quite a bit better than everything else they've done so far. Even "Thy Eternal Flame" came out a lot better than the original version. For a 1995 recording this sounds pretty good, I think it was just released way too late and by 1998 this had become quite generic, so the release would fall on fairly deaf ears. I certainly don't remember anyone mentioning the band to me during this time frame and I ordered music from all over the world back then too. "Godslayer XUL", unfortunately, is merely an okay debut album, they're getting better, but they still don't capture my imagination with their writing yet.

The Inferi tracks are quite different, but they're also much newer in terms of composition. I really liked this material and I'm glad they decided to finally release it. The songs are a good deal more atmospheric and have a much more mature writing style. Hellchrist did the vocals on this and they sound a good deal better than any of the vocalists he's had in Funeral Winds. Anyway, these Inferi tracks really make this re-release worth hearing.

For a debut album, "Godslayer XUL" is certainly a lot better than the previous releases, but it still lacks that certain something that would make the album truly good. Instead it sounds like a lot of other basic Black Metal that's been released over the years. Hopefully Funeral Winds will keep writing and working on songs to try and come into their own and write something truly worthwhile. The Inferi tracks show that they are clearly capable of that.

Funeral Winds & Abigail - Screaming for Grace
Warmaster Records, 1995
Genre: Black Metal

Funeral Winds:
1. Twilight Shine Upon My Crypt
2. The Fiery Winds of Our Revenge
3. Resurrection of the Five Winds
4. Screaming for Grace
5. Liar of Golgotha
Abigail:
6. Attack with Spell
7. Dead God - King of Kemet
8. The Crown Bearer
9. We Shall Not Await the Dawn
10. Darkness Steals



Side Abigail: ...maybe not coming...
Side Funeral Winds:

Funeral Winds continues to make improvements in their overall sound and to present their new material they do it through a split with Japan's Abigail. I probably won't review the Abigail side because their discography is huge and I'm not really into their project anyway. I much prefer Funeral Winds anyway.

So, one thing people should know about this release is that even though it lists five tracks there are only three from Funeral Winds. The first three tracks on the Funeral Winds side are actually all in a single track. I don't know if that was an error or intentional, but either way that's what happened. I think Funeral Winds are starting to come into their own a little bit more with this release, at least they're starting to blend together more than just Darkthrone or early Gorgoroth worship. The riffs are written much better, the recording quality is stronger and the band is much tighter as a whole. I think Funeral Winds is finally on their way to putting out some solid material, especially since they're starting to write in a more mature fashion. It's not quite there yet, but it's almost there. The song "Screaming for Grace" is by far my favorite on this recording, it reminds me of another band I like, but I'm drawing a blank on who that band is.

In the end if you missed out on the material before this I'm not sure you've missed out on much, this is an excellent starting point for getting into Funeral Winds. The songs are far more interesting and they have a much stronger atmosphere. They're still worshiping the Norwegian style of Black Metal, but on this recording they do a much more interesting job of it.

Funeral Winds - Thy Eternal Flame
Black Arts Productions, 1994
Genre: Black Metal

1. Thy Eternal Flame
2. Steps of Ritual













This is the first 7" vinyl EP Funeral Winds put out and it came very shortly after their demo on Pagan Records. It may seem like they're repeating material here, but even though these songs showed up on the last tape they were actually live recordings. These are studio recording of these two songs.

This is just a continuation of the material and writing style we heard on "Resurrection..." However, the recording quality is a little bit better, in my opinion anyway. It seems the band has gotten better at playing as a unit this time around. The music feels like a crossover of Gorgoroth and Darkthrone, especially "Steps of Ritual". It sounds like the band is doing well enough to the point where they can start delving into full-length territory, provided they consistently write enough material. After hearing these re-recordings I'm a bit more interested in hearing what they have in store next. The opening of "Thy Eternal Flame" kind of sounds like Dani Filth with the way he basically chirps the vocal line, so that sounds a little off, but the rest is pretty good old school Black Metal... or well general Black Metal, seeing as how this was written and released so long ago.

Funeral Winds - Resurrection...
Pagan Records, 1994
Genre: Black Metal

1. Demon Overture (Intro)
2. Dawn of the Apocalypse
3. Resurrection of the Five Winds
4. Steps of Ritual
5. Thy Eternal Flame











This is actually Funeral Winds' third demo tape. The first being a rehearsal I've never seen before and the second being "La Majestie Infernable", which I have only heard a couple tracks from. I the early 2000's a bunch of bootlegs showed up around the world and that was one of them. Even though it bears the name of the second demo, it only has two songs from that tape and features most of the songs on this tape and then their split with Abigail. So, I've only heard two songs from that demo and they were noisy, harsh, and generally not that great. That brings us to "Resurrection..." and this is a pro-printed cassette on Pagan Records. It's pro booklet with stickers on a dubbed tape and while I'm sure there's a limitation, none is listed on the tape itself.

"Resurrection..." certainly sounds a lot better than the material I heard from "La Majestie Infernable." The music isn't as noisy and even though it still has that raw do-it-yourself approach, it's mixed in a much better fashion. The band is also tighter and feels more together than the prior demo.  "Resurrection...", while not a bad demo, still feels more like a major Darkthrone clone than anything else. The songs are spectacularly stand-out, but I don't remember much from when Funeral Winds first came out and listening to it in 2018 in retrospect is kind of hard to put into perspective. There's just been so much tried and true Darkthrone worship demos in my life.

If you're a fan of the band and really interested in the roots of the project then this is certainly worth checking out. Only Hellchrist Xul is still involved in the project, since it's his project, so it was interesting to delve back into the past and hear the first members of the band. Either way it's fun to listen to how bands start out.

Infinity

Infinity - Hybris
New Era Productions, 2017
Genre: Black Metal

1. Arousing the Sleeping Serpent (Intro)
2. Destroy the Human Within
3. Wrath of the Djinn
4. The Fall (Prelude)
5. Hybris
6. At the Crossroads
7. Oracle of the Dead
8. The Mountain of Oath
9. The Prometheus Unbound
10. LCF





It is with great pleasure that I present you with one of the best albums released in 2017. Given how often I listen to this thing since it was released, I'll probably have to name it as my top album. Apparently working on albums for a great length of time is working to Infinity's favor, so I won't expect them to release something again for a while, but in a few years I now expect one hell of a release! I didn't think they were going to be able to do much beyond "Non de Hac Terra"... but I, very much, stand corrected.

"Hybris" is an incredible and wonderfully intense album. It seems they went through some line-up changes again and Andras has left the band leaving it down to Draconis and Balgradon and what a team they appear to make! As with the last album the Dissection influence is clear, but I was surprised to hear quite a bit of influence from "Reinkaos", given how that wound up being a far more popular sounding album and quite a few of the die-hards out there weren't a fan. However, just listening to the opening of "Wrath of the Djinn" and you'll see where I'm coming from. Now, "Hybris" doesn't just re-work that type of album, no, "Hybris" brings us back into the fold of Black Metal and gives us an album that I would expect as the follow-up to "Storm of the Lights Bane". "Hybris" is the album that I think everyone wanted to hear from Dissection, but we just never really god. Now we have Infinity filling that gap for us and this is a style they do extremely well, only with a bit more of a focus on the Black Metal edge. In the prior albums they've been experimenting with catchier riffs and Draconis has found some seriously excellent moments, in fact, he's probably the best guitarist that has worked with the band. The music is so much more well thought out than ever before and the writing is top notch. Not only are there catchy riffs spread throughout the entire album, they've even injected a bit of groove into sections of some songs, making for an extremely varied experience. You can even hear some really Thrash inspired riffs, especially in songs like "At the Crossroads". I also assume "LCF" is influenced, in some part, by the movie "The Ninth Gate", because the book that inspired the movie had little to do with that. It's quite the album closer as well.

As with the prior albums they've gone all out with their layout and booklet. This one is even better than the last and I feel the lyrics are even better this time around. It's tough to top a song like "The Opponent", but they manage to pull it off on this album. It's absolutely worth having a physical copy to look through as far as I'm concerned. This is also the first album not recorded by Balgradon and instead the band has turned to the might Necromorbus studios and it naturally sounds incredible. Few studios out there today really achieve the immense and powerful nature of Black Metal, while still having the music feel very organic, while still being quite polished.

In the end I'm rather shocked this isn't blowing up in the metal scene more. Sure a lot of people have heard and enjoyed the album, but I would have thought this would be Infinity's breakthrough album to major popularity just given the nature of an album like this. Either way, this album is an immense journey. A journey that I highly recommend taking.

Infinity - Non de Hac Terra
New Era Productions, 2013
Genre: Black Metal

1. Non de Hac Terra
2. The Opponent
3. Reginam Aeternum Noctis
4. Beyond the Stars...
5. The Grey Stone Monument
6. Onwards the Funeral Pyre
7. Unholy Sacrament
8. The Inevitable Darkness








I thought Infinity had fired back with a monumental album for them with "The Wisdom of Arcane Shadows" and I'm happy to be very corrected with the release of "Non de Hac Terra"... this thing is a monster of an album. If you haven't been paying attention to Infinity, because there were always other bands of similar ilk doing similar things, well now it is time to stand up and pay attention. "Non de Hac Terra" launches a whole new level of Infinity's musical career and they absolutely have my attention now, more so than ever before.

With the re-recordings of the last release we saw the addition of Draconis on guitars and this is the first album he truly appears on. He and Andras have hit upon a winning formula in my opinion. Infinity are still playing their signature Swedish style of Melodic Black Metal, but with Draconis it feels like the Dissection influence has been increased quite a bit. However, it doesn't sound like a rip-off by any stretch of the imagination, because along with this more complex song writing composition we have some excellent stand-out riffs! There's at least one per song and they're so good that they just elevate the entire experience. They also manage to give their music a soaring epic quality, which is something a lot of the Melodic Black Metal acts didn't have as much. Sacramentum hit upon it from time to time, but it wasn't really a mainstay of their sound. I think Infinity take the Swedish Black Metal formula and merely enhance it and build upon those ideas, so this album sounds quite fresh in the grand scheme of things. Coupled with the fact that Balgradon is not a boring drummer and we really have a winning album on our hands here.

As with "The Arcane Wisdom of Shadows" they went all out with the booklet design and really makes owning a physical copy worth it. Really beautiful layout and design once again! I like how they take the time to come up with a design that really complements the music and fits with the lyrics quite a bit.

In the end this is an amazing album. Infinity certainly deserve a lot more recognition than they've been given over the years. It's almost like Sacramentum all over again, I remember when they were putting out albums people didn't seem that interested in them. Fast forward ten years later and people absolutely love that band... well I loved them when they were active! Same goes for Infinity, just show anyone the song "The Opponent" and I guarantee they'll be hooked. I'll be suitably shocked if Infinity manage to top this album, because this is one of the finest in their discography for sure.

Infinity - Back to the Source
New Era Productions, 2012
Genre: Black Metal

1. Back to the Source (Summon the Black Flame)
2. Autumn Storm
3. The Birth of Death
4. Frozen Cries
5. The Ancient Shadow
6. Earth's Last Picture (Darkthrone cover)
7. Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss (Immortal cover)
8. Sacrifice (Bathory cover)




It's been quite a while since we've heard from Infinity once again and it's interesting to see them fire back with this. "Back to the Source" is not an album of new material from this project instead it features some re-recorded material and old covers they recorded a while ago. It comes in a bit of a digipak style packaging. The release is limited to 250 hand-numbered copies and I own #229.

The re-recorded songs are a blend of a few songs from "The Birth of Death" and "Nostalgia for the Dark Age". It seems they've been sitting on this re-recordings for a while, because they were made back in 2009. This also features a new guitarist named Draconis. He actually played guitar on the Dissection cover from the previous album. Perhaps Draconis is going to be filling a bigger role alongside Andras and they decided to re-record some older material. It certainly sounds a lot better than the original material, a testament to how far Balgradon has come as a sound engineer. The cover songs are a little different since they were recorded back in 2004, so they don't sound as good as the recordings from 2009. This isn't to say they are bad or anything, they're just a bit more harsh production value wise compared to the rest of the album. Naturally Infinity does a great job on the covers and really captures of the atmosphere of the original.

I think this is really a release only for major collectors, hence the low limitation. I really enjoy Infinity and the works they put out so I'm happy to have this in my collection even though it's not something I would ever really pull out all that often. It's enjoyable for what it is, but unless you're really fond of Infinity this probably really isn't worth tracking down in the grand scheme of things.

Infinity - The Arcane Wisdom of Shadows
Bloodred Horizon Records, 2008
Genre: Black Metal

1. Precatio Luciferius
2. From the Eternal Sea He Rises
3. Our Merciless Rage
4. The Rise of Azazel
5. The Legacy of the Ancient Ones
6. Within the Timeless Winds of the Beyond
7. Stare into the Void
8. The Mysteries of the Depths
9. Choronzon
10. The Legend of the Sunken Monastery
11. Night's Blood (Dissection cover)





Infinity have stopped their album per year trek and it's actually been a little while since we heard from the project. Since they changed labels, I actually missed out on this release for a while, because it really never made it into the U.S. I'm glad I back tracked and picked this up though because this is an excellent album. Infinity have steadily been progressing to writing better and better music and this album is no exception. I was surprised to see the band went through some line-up changes in the years between the last album and Quasar has left the project and now it is just down to Balgradon and Andras.

The first thing I notice on here is the quality album layout and design. It's a really excellent digi-pak setup with a full booklet inside. It's really beautiful designed and great to look through as your listening to the music and reading the lyrics. After the ambient and chanting intro the first thing you'll notice is how ear catching the first song is. That's right, they finally injected a layer of catchiness into their guitar work and it has worked out splendidly. A lot of the prior albums have had riffing that was a bit overly droning at times and not enough of the riffs really stood out, but with "The Arcane Wisdom of Shadows" that changes and here we have a solid blend of the two riffing. They flat out even have driving rhythmic moments like in "The Legacy of the Ancient Ones". Either way, I think there's about one or two stand out riffs per song and they tend to sing over the more droning riffs, which really makes for an excellent listen. They've also got a serious dose of melody injected into the guitar lines making this album feel like a blend between Dissection and Emperor, minus the keyboards. They don't use acoustic guitars as much as they used to, but there is at least one or two songs where they show up again. Towards the end of the album we take a bit of a strange ambient break with the song "Choronzon" and with only two songs left on the album it's kind of a strange thing to do, especially when one of those songs is a cover song. Granted the final song "The Legend of the Sunken Monastery" clocks in at eight minutes and is a killer song as well.

This is probably the best Infinity album in their discography so far. The guitar work is immensely enjoyable compared to prior releases and Balgradon's drum work is spectacular as usual. One of the things that really stands out about him is that he creates fairly interesting drum arrangements and isn't solely relying on blasting his way through an album. So, I really appreciate the effort he puts into working out arrangements that really complement and album! I really hope this is a whole new direction for Infinity and I really look forward to the next release from this project.

Infinity - Enter Thy Labyrinth of Hell
Total Holocaust Records, 2005
Genre: Black Metal

1. Enter Thy Labyrinth of Hell
2. Under Crimson Wings of Hate
3. Through the Mirror of Dreams
4. Whispers from the Swamps of Despair
5. The Necromantic Kiss
6. In the Spell of the Dreaming Dead
7. Funeral of the Soul
8. The March of the Luciferian Empire







Infinity has been on track to release a new album every year and 2005 is no exception to that. Like their prior albums "Enter Thy Labyrinth of Hell" is a steady improvement over the prior releases as well. This album comes with a really nicely multi-page booklet and looks really well designed overall. The only major complaint I have is that the font choice is a little difficult to read, but that's really about the only complaint I have. The font choice does look very good in this context and fits the overall atmosphere, it's just hard to read.

Musically this album basically continues where "The Birth of Death" left off, but this time around it just sounds better. I think the writing has gotten a lot stronger and the whole atmosphere feels much more intense than before. It also seems like the band increased their overall speed and can play far more intense songs than before. Now, it's nothing like Setherial's "Hell Eternal",which is mostly all blasting, but "Enter Thy Labyrinth of Hell" is certainly far more varied. I prefer my Black Metal to be more like this where it switches up arrangements a lot more and Balgradon does an excellent job of doing that on the drums. The guitar lines may not be the most interesting in the world, but his drum arrangements help them stand out a lot more and really make the difference between this being bland versus interesting. They've gotten a bit stronger in the riff writing department as well, songs like "The Necromantic Kiss" do catch my attention with the riffs alone, whereas before they didn't do that as much before.

For Infinity this is quite a stand out album so far and I think they're finally hitting on a formula that works really well for them. While I certainly enjoy Infinity whenever I listen to them, I don't think they're putting out music in such a way that it's better than other bands I've already got in my collection... so it's tough to say this is must hear music. However, if you're on the search for solidly performed Black Metal that is also fairly well recorded then Infinity is certainly a project that is worth checking out. I would absolutely recommend this album, because it's got some killer material on it and the overall album is very well done.

Infinity - The Birth of Death
Total Holocaust Records, 2004
Genre: Black Metal

1. Our Cruel Vengeance
2. Flames in Hunger
3. Back to the Source
4. Heart of Stone
5. Corvus Corax
6. Frozen Cries
7. The Birth of Death
8. The Sun No Longer Rises (Immortal Cover)







The second album from Infinity, even though it was released very quickly after the first feels like an even better and far more cohesive album. On this album Balgradon recruited another guitarist named Andras to join Quasar. On this album Balgradon only played acoustic guitars, but the rest was up to the other two guitarists. I'm sure Balgradon still writes a lot of this music, one of the tracks, "Corvus Corax" comes from their first demo.

"The Birth of Death" sounds a lot better compared to the prior album and it's clear Balgradon's engineering skills are getting a lot stronger! He's managed to capture that perfect balance between sounding raw and having the instruments sit in the mix well enough to hear everything. I actually really like the way the album sounds in that regard. Musically I still think things feel pretty closely related to Funeral Winds, and Hellchrist even offers up some guest vocals on one of the songs. I hear a lot of the Swedish style of Black Metal in this album for some reason, some Dark Funeral here and there, but then there are riffs in songs like "Heart of Stone" that aren't exactly like other areas. The use of the acoustic guitars in some sections reminds me a bit of what Christ Agony will do quite often, however, Infinity play a much faster version of Black Metal. All of this combines into a very good second effort. While Infinity certainly aren't doing anything original, they are still quite good at what they do and they've put together a pretty good album. The only thing some people may complain about is that a lot of the riffs aren't that memorable, nor do they hook you. A couple riffs here and there stand out, but not through every song. Even though this is the case, Infinity have still crafted an album with some great atmosphere in the raw Black Metal spectrum, which is more what I would look for anyway.

If you're a fan of raw Black Metal Infinity is probably a band worth checking out. They do a good job at what they do and I really enjoy listening to them when I have them on. The one problem is that I don't really gravitate towards it, having that burning need to hear it again and again. But in the end, they still generate that excellent hateful atmosphere that I look for in this style. I'm definitely going to stick with the project, because they've improved massively compared to the first album. "The Birth of Death" is much more elaborate and carefully composed that I think Infinity will improve upon their sound even more in the future.

Infinity - Nostalgia for the Dark Age
Spectral Arts Productions, 2003
Genre: Black Metal

1. The Cold Dungeons of Solitude
2. The Conquering of Humanity
3. The Ancient Shadow
4. The Astral Gate to Infinity
5. Nostalgia for the Dark Age
6. Autumn Storm
7. Endless Sight
8. The Center of Chaos (Domain of the Ravens)








I missed out on the original Infinity demos, so my collection begins with "Nostalgia for the Dark Age", which also includes the material from their second demo, so I figure this is a good place to start. I've yet to ever hear the first demo though. The main reason I wound up finding Infinity is because I'm a fan of Funeral Winds. At the time Balgradon was still drumming in Funeral Winds and I've always enjoyed his drum work quite a bit. Who knew he played guitar and did vocals as well?

This album is split into two different sections. The first is the latest recorded material, which are all new songs except for one, which is a re-recording of a song from the demo version of this album. The second half is just the original demo under the same name. It looks like Infinity originally started as a solo project of Balgradon, but later another guitarist appears named Quasar, which probably helped to flesh out their sound a bit more. It's certainly a much better section than the original demo. Also, they've gotten a lot better at engineering their own material, so the overall mix and production quality is much better. I still hear quite a bit of the Funeral Winds style in the Infinity, sound, but I guess that should come as no surprise. The songs that were done just by Balgradon are okay, but the're a little boring at times. However, when you add Quasar into the mix, things are a little better. The songs feel more full, Balgradon probably just got better at writing by that time frame at least, but there is more of an atmosphere and essence to the music that the original demo doesn't seem to share. The older material sounds a lot more like your fairly standard mid-90's Black Metal, which is good, but nothing that really grabs your attention this time around.

So, Infinity is clearly off to a strong beginning. Even the differences between the two recording sessions is fairly major and I'd love to hear what kinds of improvements the project builds upon in the future. Nothing really stands out on the release, but nothing is outright bad either. Solid mid-range Black Metal, as far as I can tell, so it's a good starting position, now we wait and see where the project goes from here.

Zwartplaag

Faagrim & Zwartplaag - United Wolfish Hordes
Thor's Hammer Productions, 2011
Genre: Black Metal

Faagrim:
1. Intro
2. Die Zeit der Wintersonnenwende
3. Mein Pakt mit dem Wolf
4. Flamme empoer (Sieg oder Walhall)
5. Pagan Brotherhood
Zwartplaag:
6. Intro/Renewed Vision of War
7. Black Visions of Hate
8. Wolventyrant




Side Faagrim: ...coming eventually...
Side Zwartplaag:

After hearing the new songs on "Haatstorm" I was looking forward to hearing the all new material for this split. Sadly this is the last recording Zwartplaag would ever produce before breaking up. It truly is a sad thing, since the material they were making was only getting stronger as time went on.

The material here certainly continues what was started with "Haatstorm", but it feels a lot more refined and the riffs are much stronger this time around. The drum production and overall mixing is a lot more balanced as well. It truly is a shame the project was put to end after this, because they were, surely, onto something much bigger had they continued. There are very few bands that play a simpler form of the late 90's style that interest me these days, but Zwartplaag has managed to make the music interesting and thus has a certain level of maturity to their writing. I think this is what really separates them from the other bands that immediately give off the feel of "I've heard this a million times already", even though some that can be attributed to their sound, I think they pull it off with a far stronger appeal and this sets them above the rest in many ways.

Zwartplaag - Haatstorm
Heidens Hart, 2010
Genre: Black Metal

1. Intro
2. Forgotten Tower of the Moon
3. Countess of Blood
4. Nachtkwaad
5. Last Stronghold of Eternal Hate
6. Imperial Death March
7. Winds of Desecration and Lust
8. Den Plaag Geleden
9. Haatstorm
10. Outro






This is one of the times where I must stand corrected in my original assessment of the demo. Apparently Heidens Hart heard something in this band that I didn't. When I saw a lot of the songs from "Nachtwaad" appear on their full-length, I was a bit skeptical, but, wow, they translated quite well to a studio performance. Naturally, I found the newer songs stronger and I wish they had made more of those rather than focus on re-recording the demo below.

To be honest, this was the first material I heard from Zwartplaag and I did quite enjoy it immediately. Even though "Haatstorm" would be considered far more simplistic, but the riffing style struck something with me. It reminded me a lot of the later 90's style Black Metal that was out. I hear a lot of material like Isegrim or a lot of other material put out by Last Episode. I know there is a decent amount of Black Metal fans out there that did not enjoy that label, and to some degree I can understand why, a lot of the bands they produced were overly simplistic and the music had this rather "samey" feel as we listened to it. There are large tracks that feel rather dry, but for some reason "Haatestorm" feels a lot stronger than that. Opening the booklet and seeing one of the members wearing a Funeral Winds shirt comes as no surprise and perhaps that influence makes this a bit stronger. Even though there is a focus on just one guitar rhythm and no interplay of layering, Zwartplaag's debut still manages to pull off a solid sound. The only major complaint I could have is the drum production. It's almost "too triggered" and the drums sound like an e-kit, which they may have used. That's really the one thing that mars their rather raw feel. The vocals are heavily reverbed, which comes as no surprise and a minor complaint is that they are a bit loud in the mix, but not so loud that they totally take over the music.

This isn't the best thing I've ever heard, by no stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoyed this for what it is. It's a primitive old school style of Black Metal, and while others may find it a bit contrived, I think a large portion of the riffing is strong enough to stand up to this kind of criticism. If you enjoyed some of the bands I referenced above, then you may want to check out Zwartplaag.

Zwartplaag - Nachtkwaad
Heidens Hart, 2008
Genre: Black Metal

1. Intro
2. Forgotten Tower of the Moon
3. The Last Stronghold of Eternal Hate
4. Interlude
5. Nachtkwaad
6. Outro










This is Zwartplaag's third demo and I highly doubt I'll be able to track down any earlier releases. Indeed, I believe I am lucky enough to have tracked this down rather recently. "Nachtkwaad" was released on cassette to an unknown limitation of hand-numbered copies and I have #206. Some copies come with a read cover, while others are the cover above in black and white.

Zwartplaag's demo is merely okay to me. It opens with keyboards that are very reminiscent of the old Dungeon Synth style performed by Mortiis, and I actually really liked this throwback feel. It's fairly generic Black Metal, but this is extremely common with a lot of newly formed bands. I think I was hoping the music would be a little more interesting by the time the third demo rolled around, but some bands take a while to brew a more interesting take on what has already been done. "Nachtkwaad" is not a bad demo, but it's certainly nothing new. The guitar riffs are heavily rooted in tradition, there is no fresh take on a differing blend. The drums sound programmed, but nothing is stated about this on the release... this would sort of make sense though since it lists Onmensch as doing everything except vocals. Perhaps this standard fair approach to Black Metal is why I never originally found this demo, because the project never really tore through the scene back then. It was only on the later material that we see some really nice stuff shine through.

I would class "Nachtkwaad" as not really a necessary listen, there are many bands who play this style and many who have done it a little better. "Nachtkwaad" shows that Zwartplaag can certainly meet the standard of what has come before... but the real question is will they be able to build something more into their sound to make it truly their own or play an atmosphere that feels extremely well done.