Blood Stronghold

Blood Stronghold - Triumph of Wolfish Destiny
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.

Blood Stronghold - Vengeance in Sacrificial Blood
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.

Blood Stronghold & Duch Czerni - The Fragments of Wandering Souls
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.

Blood Stronghold - The March of Apparitions
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.

Blood Stronghold - From Sepulchral Remains...
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.

Blood Stronghold - Blood Spilt in the Earth's Viscera
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.

Blood Stronghold - The Immortal Past
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.

Evilfeast

Evilfeast - Elegies of the Stellar Wind
Eisenwald Tonschmeide, 2017
Genre: Black Metal

1. The Second Baptism... Shores in Fire and Ice
2. Winter Descent's Eve... I Become the Journey
3. Lunar Rites... Beholding the Towers of Barad-Dur
4. From the Northern Wallachian Forest... Tyranny Returns
5. Archaic Magic... A Cenotaph Below the Cursed Moon
6. Inclinata Resurgit... Rebirth of My Noble Dark Kingdom





When Eisenwald announced they were releasing the new Evilfeast I was extremely excited for this. Just looking at their cover choice just immediately pulls you into the album. The booklet design for the prior albums was okay and worked, but with Eisenwald pressing this they went in for a little more detail and what a beautiful booklet and layout. It features very compelling pictures that work with each song in a wonderful way. Remember though, make sure you have over an hour to devote to listening to this album, which is the standard for Evilfeast material.

It's interesting to note that GrimSpirit spent a lot more time working on this material than his other full-lengths, because we have quite a long break between now and the last full-length. However, that time was clearly well spent, because these are, by far, the best Evilfeast compositions I've ever heard. This album is truly a master work for GrimSpirit, and while I've always enjoyed the material he really pushed himself on this release. The atmosphere and guitar riffs are all top notch and I won't be surprised to see this hit my top 10 for 2017 at all. He's managed to incorporate so many different influences into a single album, that it's like listening to the best riffs of the past history of Black Metal, but all recast in a way that only Evilfeast really knows how! His tracking and drum performance have improved dramatically over the years to the point where his performance is extremely spot on and sometimes quite varied and creative. He's even incorporating some intense atmospheric moments in sections, such as in "Lunar Rites... Beholding the Towers of Barad-Dur" where I hear distinct Darkspace/Paysage d'Hiver styled moments between the keyboards and guitars. The droning blasting just amplifies feel of those projects. Then we also have some incredible riffs featured on "Winter Descent's Eve... I Become the Journey" that just hook you in right away. That song ended way too soon for such a lengthy track.

Another aspect that is a bit different is there are no stand alone ambient tracks. GrimSpirit moved away from those on "Lost Horizons of Wisdom", but with the promo, I thought maybe he would bring them back. So, I was surprised to see the Ambient moments more built into the songs themselves, which I think works a lot better for Evilfeast. We'll even hear elements of acoustic passages added into the music, such as with songs like "From the Northern Wallachian Forest... Tyranny Returns". This all before moving into one of the most Gorgoroth riffs I've ever heard him compose. This song also has some of the clean vocal styles we heard on "Invoking the Ancient". I like the fact that he uses them quite sparingly and only in moments that work well with the music. He's clearly going for a bit of a Garm feel with the vocal performance and I'm certainly not about to complain about that.

In the end we really do have the finest Evilfeast release, in my opinion. This is just so over the top excellent compared to the prior releases, that this will probably turn into my "go to" Evilfeast album when I'm interested in listening to their music. If you've been a long running fan of the project, I'm sure you won't be disappointed, but I'd recommend any fan of long atmospheric works to check out this release. It has a lot on here to satisfy a lot of moods. Now the real challenge... can he top this for the next Evilfeast release? I'll be surprised if he does, but I always look forward to hearing more from this project.

Evilfeast - Promo Tape 2015
Funeral Sound Productions, 2015
Genre: Black Metal

1. Intro
2. A Cenotaph Below the Cursed Moon
3. Outro













It's been a couple years since we've heard from Evilfeast and perhaps Grimspirit decided to show off some in process work for things to come or to just put material out there in search of a new label to work with. Either way, here we have a single song demo tape. This comes with a pro-printed cover and a dubbed tape. It's limited to 150 hand-numbered copies and I own #22.

The track Evilfeast is showcasing here has a bit of a lo-fi quality to it production wise, which is a bit different than we've gotten used to as Grimspirit has been increasing his production value quite a bit lately. So, it's interesting to feel a step back and get a slightly more raw product, but as with his newer material it works in either format. The music is similar to what we heard on "Wintermoon Enchantment", but it feels like he's progressed the feel and beauty of his songwriting even more this time around. If this is an indicator of things to come, I think we're in for something quite special with the next release from Grimspirit. I'm glad we were able to hear something in process, just to get a glimpse of things to come.

Evilfeast - Invoking the Ancient
Obscure Abhorrence Productions, 2013
Genre: Black Metal

1. Invoking the Ancient
2. The Nine Ghosts (Osculum Infame cover)













This is a somewhat unusual release for Evilfeast since Grimspirit doesn't really release one off tracks that much. He did that with "Wolves of Hyperborean Frost" so maybe we're seeing a new promotional thing with this artist. The interesting thing with these releases is the cover songs, which won't appear on any of his full-lengths. In the past Evilfeast has been pretty focused on releasing tape editions of this type of material, but for this release he turned to Obscure Abhorrence to release a special 10" vinyl limited to 300 copies. While they were at it, they also pressed a vinyl version of the "Wolves in Hyperborean Frost" demo tape. I'm actually surprised these things aren't hand-numbered!

The song "Invoking the Ancient" is of similar high quality to the prior album. This time, however, he's thrown a bit more into the mix. With this song there's a couple sections that have clean chanting styled vocals. Anytime he delves into that section of the song I get a distinct Ulver vibe from the performance. It's actually very cool and I wouldn't be opposed to him throwing this into his music from time to time. Very few bands can pull off that old Ulver feel, but Evilfeast blended it into his usual repertoire quite well.

For the second track on this album Evilfeast turned to an Osculum Infame song originally released in 1997 on their album "Dor-Nu-Fauglith", even though I knew about the band at the time, I still missed out on that release and I regret it to this day. Ah well... Evilfeast did a really great job on this cover song. Grimspirit really managed to capture the atmosphere of their material and update the production quality a little bit more, so it was really nice to see this cast under the Evilfeast lens. I also enjoyed hearing Evilfeast cover some actual Black Metal material... maybe someday he'll do a cover of something off of Satyricon's "Dark Medieval Times".

Evilfeast - Wintermoon Enchantment
Nykta Records, 2011
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

1.Intro: Open the Mysteries from Beyond
2. Fullmoon Over the Eastern Woods
3. Tradition-Heritage-Destiny
4. The Wind & the Old Willows
5. Interlude: Passing the Meadows in Woe
6. Wolves of Hyperborean Frost
7. Summoning the Splendour Once Fallen
8. Outro: Descent into the Starlit Spheres







After getting a taste of what this album would sound like on the "Wolves of Hyperborean Frost" demo, I feel like I'm a bit more surprised at the overall presentation of this. This album really brings back the feel of some of the early 90's Black Metal in a way that I haven't heard in many years. This CD also comes with a very nicely designed booklet. Probably the nicest design so far in the Evilfeast discography. The booklet is also printed on full gloss paper, which got popular for some time in the Black Metal world, but I feel like it was popular before 2011.

"Wintermoon Enchantment" is definitely pushes the atmospheric boundaries quite a bit. I think this release also hearkens back to the mid-90's era of Black Metal quite a bit. As usual Evilfeast keeps the core Satyricon/Emperor build as the main backbone of his music, but on this album I feel like he shifts in some early Arcturus, early Gehenna and some Old Man's Child into the mix. There's probably some old Dimmu, but all those other bands are better. This Evilfeast album is quite a bit more intense than "Lost Horizons of Wisdom" and we rarely get the airy keyboard interlude in the midst of a track. Instead Grimspirit keeps the Black Metal flowing throughout the entirety of a song, which is probably why the intro, outro and interlude are strictly keyboard pieces. I actually like this format a little more and I think it works with the Evilfeast sound very well. Evilfeast is never really Ambient enough in the way something like Paysage d'Hiver is to really have that ominous Ambient break in the midst of a song that really builds back into a Black Metal onslaught. Instead each track is more focused on generating the atmosphere necessary to drive the song. The keyboards mainly serve to add that majestic atmosphere you'll hear with the Symphonic Black Metal bands, but Evilfeast is far more guitar driven and riff heavy by comparison.

As with the other releases this album spans well over an hour in listening time. However, I feel like the time is well spent and this is definitely one of the best albums in the Evilfeast discography as far as I'm concerned. It's certainly my favorite so far, because it manages to blend in all those elements I've been really wanting him to blend together. "Lost Horizons of Wisdom" really starts doing the blends I wanted, but I feel like "Wintermoon Enchantment" really refines the idea behind that and creates for a much more immersive and exciting listen. Definitely a high point for the Evilfeast discography so far!

Evilfeast - Wolves of Hyperborean Frost
Funeral Sound Productions, 2009
Genre: Black Metal

1. Wolves of Hyperborean Frost
2. Himmel aus Eis/Der tod Wuotans (Burzum cover)












After releasing some great material through record labels Evilfeast returned to the demo tape world a year after one of their best releases. This is kind of strange to me, but maybe Grimspirit was looking to experiment a bit more? This was originally released on Grimspirit's own label Funeral Sound Productions limited to 50 hand-numbered copies. It's no surprise I missed out on that and instead of the 10" vinyl edition published by Obscure Abhorrence in 2013 limited to 300 copies.

The first song is very similar to "Lost Horizons of Wisdom" and if this is an indicator for the next full-length I think we're going to all find that as good as the prior album. The main progression featured on this song reminds me of some other Scandinavian project, but I just can't remember it off the top of my head. Either way it's quite a good song and in line with the direction Evilfeast was developing on the last album. The production quality is a little lower, but that's probably because this was merely intended as a demo. After this on side B we have entirely Ambient material. It's somewhat of a curiosity, because the first part is an original Ambient piece and that immediately flows into a Burzum cover. Most bands would cover something from Burzum's metal material, but not Evilfeast, he's covering a track found on the infamous Ambient albums, this one being from "Hliðskjálf". Covering an ambient track is flat out unusual any way you look at it, so it's kind of interesting that Grimspirit went after this. He did a good job on it too for what it is. I'm not a very big fan of Burzum's Ambient material and Evilfeast's Ambient material is only okay as a stand alone. Like a lot of these bands, their ambience is best blended with the Black Metal guitars.

After hearing him do covers, I'd actually really love to hear Evilfeast cover something from Satyricon's "Dark Medieval Times", because I think he could really nail that atmosphere! In any event, if the Black Metal song on here is any indicator of the next album, then we'll all be looking forward to another great release from this project.

Evilfeast - Lost Horizons of Wisdom
Nykta Records, 2008
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

1. Algol's Northern Lights
2. Grim Spirit, the Forest Wanderer
3. Cages of Cold Despondency
4. My Tower Among the Timeless Mountains
5. Lost Horizons of Wisdom










After the atrocious production issues with the Marblebog split, I was semi-worried about the next release. I was hoping Grimspirit would return to his standard form of the earlier albums and that's basically exactly what he did with "Lost Horizons of Wisdom". Even though there are only five tracks on this album, make sure you have some time to devote, because this release is over an hour in length. The shortest song clocks in at a mere 11 minutes! The booklet layout is much nicer this time around compared to the prior albums. In fact it kind of reminds me of the layout and design on a few Vinterriket releases.

"Lost Horizons of Wisdom" is actually an extremely well done and excellent album. Grimspirit finally did what I sort of wanted him to do, which is blend together his faster material with the slower more atmospheric style. This has added an interesting effect that it doesn't really sound exactly like Emperor/Satyricon blended together even though he's now playing closer to Emperor tempos. I think he also put some work into cleaning up his guitar tone a little bit, which is great, because I always thought his guitar sounded a bit fuzzy.

Musically this album trends a lot more into the realms of Atmospheric Black Metal than Evilfeast ever has before. With the increased speed and slight change in guitar tone, I feel like a lot more influence is coming from projects like Paysage d'Hiver and some of the German bands that play a more atmospheric sound. There is still the clear Emperor/Satyricon styled influence, but this album feels more and more like Evilfeast is striking out on their own and writing songs that are starting to feel a lot more unique in the annals of Black Metal. Some of the Ambient sections seem influenced by Vinterriket, which makes sense given the way the layout looks.

In the end, despite its length, I did find this a really worthwhile listen. Some people may find the album to be a bit overlong, but I really enjoyed every song, so I can't really complain. For me this is where the Evilfeast project really begins to take off. While the prior albums are good, there's just something about "Lost Horizons of Wisdom" that strikes a different atmosphere in some ways. In any event, if you wanted to hear Evilfeast's combination of speed and atmosphere, this is the album where they take that on and quite successfully.

Evilfeast & Marblebog - Isenheim/Abyss Calls...
Alles-Stenar, 2008
Genre: Black Metal

Evilfeast: Isenheim
1. Dawn of Winter
2. Isenheimen
3. My Journey into Cold Infinity
Marblebog: Abyss Calls...
4. Hiv a Mélység
5. Keresés
6. Ébredj!
7. Csendhajnal






Side Marblebog: ...coming eventually...
Side Evilfeast:

After a rather no-frills album like "Funeral Sorcery" it was interesting to see this split open with an ambient track that is over six minutes long. After that the Black Metal hits in with "Isenheimen".  I don't know what in the world happened, but this album's production is way worse than the other releases. I feel like Grimspirit was trying to get the drums to sound better in the mix or at least more prominent compared to "Funeral Sorcery", but he fell into a trap with the snare drum. There's this annoying frequency his snare is emitting and it's just taking over the entire mix. He also seems to have some other issues, because parts of the drum mix have this weird "whooshing" sound when he goes into the blast beats. Either way, it just crushes the experience for me, it's not one of those good raw production things, its a distracting one. I understand the desire to close mic the snare... but figuring out how to control that takes a little while. In any event it's really mainly problematic when you play fast, so the song "Isenheim" gets drowned out. "My Journey into Cold Infinity" is a great deal slower, so the offending snare frequencies are not as much of a problem here.

The song "Isenheim" is similar to what we heard on "Funeral Sorcery" and "My Journey into Cold Infinity" feels more like a far slower version of a song that could have found its way onto "Mysteries of the Nocturnal Forest". In the grand scheme of things, the actual full-lengths are far better, in my opinion. Evilfeast's music on here is well composed, but ruined by poor production moves. Hopefully Grimspirit will sort this drum mixing issue out on future albums, because it would be a shame to have a full-length marred in this way.

Evilfeast - Funeral Sorcery
Funeral Sound Productions, 2005
Genre: Black Metal

1. Funeral Sorcery
2. I Reach the Winter Twilight
3. Krone aus kalten sternen
4. Tale of Carpathian Wind
5. Iconoclast Eminence
6. Im schatten der majestät des eistodes









This is the second album from Evilfeast and it was originally released on tape by Grimspirit's own label limited to 300 hand-numbered copies. However, a CD edition of this was released in 2008 by Alles Stennar and that's the version I own. The liner notes say this music was composed between February and May, which is a pretty quick turn around for Grimspirit and the music is a little different compared to what came before. I almost wonder if this was originally intended as some kind of demo or a different approach to music he wanted to play.

The biggest difference you'll notice right away is how fast this music is. It seems, to me, he was trying to delve into the faster albums from Satyricon and Emperor and "Funeral Sorcery" results in being a pretty fast blast beat friendly album. Maybe he just wanted to push the speed envelope as a musician to see if he could do it! I've done that before, because if you can play very fast accurately, you can also play at all the tempos below that speed and it gives you a lot more room to work on your music. Sometimes the drums feel a little sloppy in places, so I think he might be pushing his personal speed limit a bit much on some tracks, but it's not horrifically annoying. Another thing you'll notice about this album is how far back the keyboards are in the mix for this. The guitars are extremely loud by comparison and this album feels like a far more guitar driven release than we seem to usually get from Evilfeast. The keyboards are still there, certainly, but they're also used a lot more sparingly. When they do show up, I think they actually sit a bit better in the mix, because they don't feel nearly as overpowering and instead add a nice blend to the guitar work. Unfortunately, the guitars being this much louder in the mix means the drums got kind of buried in the mix, you can still hear the snare and ride pretty well... but a lot of other aspects of the drums are just gone. Ah well... it's really hard to mix acoustic drums, so clearly he's still experimenting.

Now the thing I would love to hear at this point is a blend of the prior albums with this new faster style. "Funeral Sorcery" sounds a lot meaner compared to the prior Evilfeast releases, even the riffing has taking on a rather drastic viciousness at times compared to the prior albums. However, Grimspirit still manages to craft a really excellent Black Metal atmosphere blending all this material together. It's really another great album from this project.

Evilfeast - Mysteries of the Nocturnal Forest
Old Legend Productions, 2004
Genre: Black Metal

1. Ode to a Rising Fullmoon (Intro)
2. Immerse into Cold Mist
3. Thy Woods are Sacred
4. Towards the Funeral Winternight Landscape
5. Solitude Apotheosis
6. Descending Winds of Holocaust
7. The Black Heavens Open
8. Morbid Rejoice
9. Desolate Fields Left (Outro)






After a really excellent demo, it's great to see Evilfeast get the full-length treatment. After such an excellent demo, it's not too surprising to see a CD release next in line for this project, because I certainly wanted to hear more after the first listen. The booklet is pretty simple, which is fairly common for a first release at this time, but given the fact that Old Legend Production released some really good stuff, I wound up having a lot of the CD's they put out.

"Mysteries of the Nocturnal Forest" picks up where the demo leaves off, but it gets a little more elaborate by comparison. Everything is in that same style we loved before, but Grimspirit has just gotten better at crafting the songs and recording them. It looks like he wrote a lot of material in the 90's and finally built a home recording studio in the early 2000's to record the music he wrote. After two more years of engineering practice he's gotten a little better at it. The recording feels dense though, similar to how Emperor sounded in the early days, which you'd expect with such a large amount of things going on. I think Grimspirit tried to model his guitar tone after "In the Nightside Eclipse" as much as possible. It's not the greatest guitar tone out there, but when the keyboards and drums break and its just the guitar in some sections you can really tell how closely he nailed that "In the Nightside Eclipse" vibe with his material. Granted Grimspirit is not Faust or Trym behind the drum kit, but he might not have been playing drums nearly as long as those guys, but what he does works with his arrangements. Just don't expect any blistering intense speed or elaborate drum lines. Now "Mysteries of the Nocturnal Forest" isn't all Emperor worship, to me this is really a blend of Satyricon and Emperor, just imagine Satyricon with more keyboard work. I mean just listen to the guitar line in "The Black Heavens Open" and listen to how much that sounds like "Dark Medieval Times". The fact that he's been able to blend these two bands together so well and create a style that feels entirely different, meanwhile paying clear homage to these great bands is really wonderful.

So, if you like the idea of "Dark Medieval Times" blended with "In the Nightside Eclipse" then this is certainly a must listen. Sometimes these blended albums give way to a wholly unique sound and that may happen with Evilfeast on future releases, and if that ends up being the case I do wonder how much this album will stand the test of time. I've enjoyed it over the years since it was released, but it's not an album I pull out that often to listen to. However, any time it comes up and I listen to it, I really do enjoy the album, so I guess it has held up well over the years.

Evilfeast - Thy Abhorrent Emerging
Funeral Sound Productions, 2002
Genre: Black Metal

1. Inner Dark Spheres
2. Moribund Chanting
3. Entering the Forest of Old Wisdom













I originally missed out on this demo when it was first released, but I was lucky enough to later track it down. At first I stayed away from this band because their name is just so ridiculous and I assumed the music probably wasn't going to be very good. However, it turns out that Evilfeast play some extremely excellent Black Metal and once I finally got a copy of their music I've been buying up everything I can from the project ever since! This tape is where it all began and it's limited and hand-numbered, but no limitation amount is mentioned. I have #262 and it was released on Grimspirits own record label, which seems to only have two bands, Evilfeast tapes and the Polish band Revenge.

According to the tapes liner notes this music was composed between 1997 and 2002, which is quite a long time to compose three songs. Don't be fooled though, even though there are only three songs, there is still over a half-hour of music to listen to. Once you delve into one song, the demo keeps up that basic feel for the entire listen. "Inner Dark Spheres" begins with a dark keyboard introduction, before blasting us away with fast and intense Black Metal. The music most closely reminds me of Emperor's "In the Nightside Eclipse", but I don't think Grimspirit's keyboard arrangements are nearly as elaborate as Ihsahn's... but few people are. The keyboard arrangements are more akin to Dungeon Synth, which is great, because it adds an interesting feel underneath the blasting Black Metal. The programmed drums give it a bit of a Paysage d'Hiver feel and even a Mysticum feel, because everything is so raw as well. In fact, I would say the music is a bit of a blend between Emperor and Paysage d'Hiver, but you'll hear influences from all over on here. "Moribund Chanting" has a moment that is basically Satyricon worship, so this project has a lot of great moments involved. The demo tends to trend heavier on the Scandinavian side of things with moments from Arcturus and Ulver showing up... there's probably some Dimmu Borgir influence on here, but, frankly, I think Evilfeast sounds a lot better than that and a lot meaner in some of the riffing design. I'm hesitant to call this Symphonic Black Metal, because the music is very clearly guitar driven, like Emperor, rather than more keyboard driven like Dimmu Borgir.

Right now he's clearly playing around with his core influences and I'm interested to see how this project will progress as Evilfeast takes on a more unique sound of its own. Grimspirit is clearly a competent musician and these songs are actually really well done overall, especially for a first demo. After hearing this I'm looking forward to hearing what else Evilfeast might produce in the future!

Stworz

Stworz - Wołosożary
Werewolf Promotion, 2017
Genre: Pagan Black Metal

1. Białe stanice, czerwone niebiosa
2. Rozpłomień
3. Wołosożary
4. Księżyc-Czarodziej
5. Znów zakwitną sady
6. Niech żyje śmierc
7. Przez żmijową niwę
8. Jesteśmy Słońcem
9. Moja Swarzyca
10. Będę tęsknotą w Twych samotnych oczach
11. Na szarych łodziach Grudnia
12. Jest bez pole stecka



After "Zagony bogów", I was certainly looking forward to its follow up. For this, Stworz ended up taking a few years from working on metal related music and put out acoustic and folk styled releases, which I'm not very interested in, so they're not going to appear in the review set. If you like that stuff, I'm sure they did an excellent job, but I doubt I would give the material a very fair review, because I often find it boring after a while. Luckily after a couple years Stworz was back to release another excellent Pagan Black Metal album.

"Wołosożary" is a little different from "Zagony bogów", because it's not nearly as vicious or powerful. I think "Wołosożary" is a lot more melancholic than their prior material. It's kind of strange, to me, since they seem to be following a very similar path to Nokturnal Mortum, because "Verity" is a lot more mellowed out compared to "Voice of Steel". However, these projects are certainly operating independently and Stworz has quite a different overall sound despite the influence of the bigger named project. Stworz did a better job on this album blending the folk instruments more seamlessly in the production. In some prior albums instruments like the flute would just dominate the mix, but here it sits a lot better. The blend of distorted guitars and acoustic guitars works very well and only serves to emphasize that more melancholic atmosphere this time. They adjusted the drum production a little as well, it's only okay as far as I'm concerned. The kick drums lost some of their punch, so it doesn't have that kick feel like I'm listening to Doc from Vader, which I kind of liked for some reason, but I can see why Stworz would want to back off on that.

In the end this doesn't hit as hard as "Zagony bogów", but it definitely has some great music on it. It took me a couple listens to really get interested in the album. It was the closer, second listen, where I got to experience the full breadth of this album. It's a really beautiful piece of music, but for me, I think "Zagony bogów" is a little better. Either way, if you've already been following Stworz then the new album doesn't disappoint, it just takes our journey in a slightly different direction.

Stworz - Zagony bogów
Werewolf Promotion, 2015
Genre: Pagan Black Metal

1. Zagony bogów
2. Pług czasu
3. Maro, Maro
4. Przędza losu
5. Perun jest mnogi
6. Droga mleczna
7. Jaskółki
8. Czerwone jajeczko
9. Nic ponad bogów myśl i czyn
10. Pieśń żerców
11. Pożegnanie słońca
12. Szerokie pole




We didn't have long to wait from the follow-up to "Cóż po żyznych ziemiach​.​.​." and I won't complain about that at all. "Zagony bogów" continues Stworz' interesting blend of Pagan/Folk elements into their unique style of Black Metal. As usual they bring us a booklet filled with art that inspires the imagery of the music.

I actually enjoyed "Zagony bogów" more than the previous album. I feel like this is where Stworz really managed to blend everything that influences them into a single cohesive album. I think on the prior album they were still a bit more explorative with everything, but on this release they've really harnessed what they were trying to do and blended all the pieces together. One of the problems I find when blending things like traditional pieces and Black Metal together, is that sometimes things can wind up feeling overly upbeat. However, the prior album wound up falling into that trap a little bit, however "Zagony bogów" manages to blend the styles together very well. It manages to keep an overarching intensity and darkness, while at the same time blending in the epic feel of the traditional elements. When they switch over to the folk parts that are calming and the traditional female vocals, they feel far more well thought out than before. Sometimes on "Cóż po żyznych ziemiach​.​.​." the elements felt sort of forced together, but now they've sorted out those issues.

If you're a fan of things like modern Nokturnal Mortum, then I would imagine that "Zagony bogów" will be an enjoyable listen. Definitely one of the best albums released for the year in my book. Absolutely a must buy if your into this style of music.

Stworz - Cóż po żyznych ziemiach​.​.​.
Werewolf Promotion, 2014
Genre: Pagan Black Metal

1. Wyraj
2. Nim wróci Wiosna...
3. Matka Ziemia, Ojciec Słońce
4. Tęsknota
5. Mój kraj
6. Koło życia
7. Zażynki
8. By dla Słońca pieśni śpiewać...
9. Gdy Słońce przemierza bezkresne niebiosa...
10. Wieczne Słońce
11. Cóż po żyznych ziemiach...
12. Z tamtej strony jeziora



Stworz has actually been pretty quiet for a couple years, but this album is where they caught my attention. Because I heard "Cóż po żyznych ziemiach..." it made me want to back into their discography and find out what the early material sounded like, while it's not as good as this, it was still pretty good. However, I feel like the whole approach to writing and record changed dramatically on this album and Stworz took a very mature step with this release.

Even though Stworz stands on the shoulders of other artists like Nokturnal Mortum, Falkenbach and later Honor (probably because they're Polish and use similar progressions) I feel like Stworz has carved out a unique enough sound to set them apart from other bands. When we hit this album I feel like Stworz is striking out on their own to combine the sounds of their native land with Black Metal in a far more cohesive way than ever before. The end results is a composition that has those epic and triumphant qualities, but still has a bit of a darker undercurrent to their music. Even though they'll include native folk elements in their music, it never really strikes a level of silliness that you'd hear with something like Finntroll... except one song... the end of "Mój kraj". It's the one and only time they deviate from their approach and it really kills the feel of the album in this one section. It's a real shame, because it's one of my favorite songs on the album, until they start with the up beat stuff. Either way, I prefer Stworz' overall approach to the Pagan Black Metal genre more. Hopefully future releases will be a more cohesive listening experience though.

On this release they also feature a female singer that adds a lot more to that ancient folk feel. Singing in a more traditional voice of the region it adds an interesting feel to the music. Vocally W. doesn't try to achieve the more traditional Black Metal vocals as we heard in prior releases, but something in between that and more of a shout. The end results is a vocal performance that melds far better in his music than his previous vocal attempts. This approach is one of the things that was sorely missing from the Stworz arrangements and I'm really glad he switched to this style of vocal. It's not clean, it's not entirely harsh, but sits somewhere in between, since if this was dominated by clean vocals, I probably wouldn't like it.

The production quality of their recordings has been improved quite a bit. I still think the band is using either an e-kit or programming the drums. I think it's more likely an e-kit though, because of the way the performance sounds. It sounds more human than outright machine. The kick drum samples kind of have that Vader kick drum sound and for whatever reason it seems to work here. They have this powerful presence in the mix, which  really helps drive the music. The guitar feel far more organic before and even if they're DI'ing everything instead of mic'ing up amps they did a pretty good job with making everything sound as real as they could. Yet amidst all of this there still feels like an underlying quality of rawness that I personally believe should be pervasive in all Black Metal production, because otherwise its too polished and doesn't fit the genre.

If you're really going to spend some time getting into this album, make sure you set aside a good amount of time, because it's over an hour long. So, it's quite the journey, but Stworz' songs are so enjoyable that I find it easy to stay entertained throughout the recording. I really look forward to Stworz exploring this approach in future releases. Definitely a must hear album!

Stworz - Blask wiecznego ognia
Werewolf Promotion, 2012
Genre: Pagan Black Metal

1. Zmierzch nad Sławią
2. Słońce niezwyciężone
3. Blask nad wiecznymi lasami
4. Celebracja cykli słońca
5. Tragedie krwią w śniegu pisane
6. Jesienne liście spadają w deszczu
7. Oblicze Chorsowe
8. Wiatr, co słowiańską pieśń niesie
9. Duma Lechitów
10. 1034
11. Rodzima wiara




If you missed out on the first two tape releases by Stworz like I did, this is your chance to listen to that old material. On the way to this compilation, I also missed out on some more splits and EP's... ah well, I've just resigned myself to reviewing what I have available from this project. Stworz also delves into releasing acoustic/folk styled releases amidst their metal albums and I'm not as interested in those.

Since this material pre-dates "Po czasu kres" this music is along similar lines, but almost more primitive in some ways. With "Blask nad wiecznymi lasami" first being released in 2008, you can still get an idea of the basic foundation Stworz was going for. That epic flavor put into the Pagan Black Metal style is ever present in Stworz's riffing style. However, I found the overall music to plod along a little more slowly compared to later releases. Some moments are great, but you can still tell that this is a pretty early effort for the project. As this project grows things get a little more elaborate and more well formed. The material featured from the split with Wolforder is little different. The production quality is a little better, the drums sound a bit more real. But writing wise it's not too different.

I've always enjoyed delving into a bands history and early years. While some projects may find some of their early material pretty cringe-worthy, Stworz, luckily, doesn't have that problem. However, it's certainly not great or a legend in the making. It's just not bad. It's a good start, that built into something really spectacular in my opinion. In the end, this isn't music to listen frequently, but it's fun to delve into a bands history and if you liked the more Black Metal days of Stworz's history this will be a must have in that case.

Stworz - Synowie słońca
Frenteuropa Records, 2010
Genre: Pagan Black Metal

1. Przekuwając myśl w czyn
2. Do młodzi sławiańskiej!
3. Synowie słońca
4. Nektar inspiracji
5. Jaryło
6. Łzy Europy
7. Kołowrót
8. My, Lechici
9. Ku horyzontów krańcom







In just the short span of a year the Stworz sound has developed rather dramatically. The songwriting alone just feels so much more mature for some reason. It's as if they struck upon an idea and approach to how their music should sound and it really just melded together very well.

On this album we'll still get a backdrop of Black Metal into their overall sound, with blast beats and harsh vocals. Coupled with the fact that it feels like there's a lot more influence from Nokturnal Mortum's folkier side being thrown into the mix. The overall feel and tone of the guitars actually reminds me of Honor's "W płomieniach wschodzącej siły", which was an album that focused on more pagan themes than anything else. There is a lot more folk instrumentation throughout this album, amidst its epic and passionate metal performance. I think "Мировоззрение" from Nokturnal Mortum bears the strongest resemblence in terms of song writing structure. However, Stworz puts their own twist on the themes and structure, not to mention folk elements unique to their region. So, Stworz is hardly a clone of the projects that started the whole Pagan Black Metal approach, but I feel that Stworz is striking out on a path all their own and will have a more unique voice in the genre with the way this album turned out to be.

While the first Stworz full-length was only okay, this is a major step in the right direction and they have definitely got my attention with this release. I really had no complaints about the album and I found it a very enjoyable album. It may not be one of the most compelling ever released, but it was still very good and definitely moving their songwriting in an excellent direction. I'm interested in what they'll come up with next, that's for sure.

Stworz - Po czasu kres
Frenteuropa Records, 2009
Genre: Pagan Black Metal

1. W ciszy jesiennych dni
2. Po czasu kres
3. Dzieje snem okryte
4. Porannych mrozów pieśń
5. Kosovo je Srbija
6. Tragedie pisane krwią w śniegu
7. Duma Sławii
8. Równonoc








If you're more familiar with the Stworz of 2014 or after, then delving into their back catalog may hold some fairly different things for you. I didn't really run into this band until they were fairly well established and I found their approach very captivating and I was hoping for more of that, so I delved deeper into their music catalog.

People that came to Stworz a little later will be surprised to hear the opening title track being a massive and fast blast fest. However, delving into the second track "Dzieje snem okryte" we begin to hear quite a bit of the sound Stworz would focus on more. One of the bigger differences is the use of a sort of distorted Black Metal voice for a lot of this album, as opposed to that sort of strong shout W. uses in later releases. He's not nearly as good with the Black Metal vocally speaking. He's not bad, but only okay. The guitar tone is also way too fuzzy, but in later releases this gets cleaned up quite a lot, so it's far more desirable to listen to. Still we get those wonderful epic passages that I wanted more of from Stworz and those are rife throughout the album. So, in terms of composition, this is actually a very well done album, and it's merely limited by its production quality, because a cleaner production would favor this style a lot more. The music isn't raw or unbridled enough. The other major issues is the very obvious electronic drum kit. I don't know if he majorly upgraded this kit later or just got an acoustic drum set, but the drum production improves dramatically at some point. For some reason I always think an electronic drum kit on a Pagan Black Metal album is a bit of an oxymoron... ah well, I do realize not everyone has the means or space for acoustic drums. Still, I would hire someone before delving into the e-kit for this.

Delving into Stworz's past I was expecting to hear far worse, but I think they've crafted a very good album here and it is merely marred by a sub-par production value. Overall the album has great songwriting and a compelling triumphant atmosphere, but it doesn't shine through nearly as much as future releases. So, Stworz is off to a strong start, but has some areas to seriously improve upon in the future.

War (Pol)

War - Insanity of Faith
Under the Sign of Garazel Productions, 2007
Genre: Black Metal

1. Undivine Plan
2. Possession
3. Path of the Truth
4. Advocatus Diaboli
5. Witch










2007 brings us a wonderful release and some sad news. While we certainly have a new and excellent album from War, this is also to be their final musical output. After this the band would break-up and their musicians would do other things with their lives. As usual with the Garazel releases this is limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies and I own #115. A major difference is this time we get a full booklet with all the lyrics and everything. A truly wonderful way to end the art.

It's interesting to see this project come into existence in the early 90's, disappear for years then resurface for a very productive engagement for a few years only to disappear again. Luckily they have left us with some truly excellent music to enjoy, which will, no doubt, stand the test of time. "Insanity of Faith" basically continues where "Holy War" has left off. It his a similar approach with the songs being very long and the riffing meandering between bouts of intensity and more melancholic passages. The album eventually closes out with the immense "Witch" which clocks in at nearly twelve minutes in length. This is really a spectacular closing to a wonderful journey.

If you have liked what War has been producing over the years, then you're unlikely to be disappointed with this release too. Its sad to see there will not be a follow-up for this album. However, given the fact that the projects life has been intermittent maybe someday it will be resurrected for an even more updated approach. I feel like the message for this album is a lot more mature as well and is aptly shown on the inner sleeve behind the CD: "Beware of Men who claim they possessed the truth..."

Dark Fury/White Devils/War - Alliance in Hate
Garazel Productions/Flagellum Haereticorum Records, 2006
Genre: Black Metal

Dark Fury:
1. 'Till Death
2. We are...
3. In Our Hands
4. No Tolerance
5. Nightly Gloom
6. One of Us
White Devils:
7. Podbój
8. Europejski Koszmar
9. Zwycięstwo Lub Śmierć
10. Nowy Ład
11. Przemoc I Siła
War:
12. Prophecy of a Fallen Angel
13. Faust's Vision
14. Old Prey
15. Presence of Evil

Side Dark Fury: here

Side White Devils: ...coming eventually...

Side War:

War has been going through a very productive stage in their career and here they have even more material for us just a year later. Here they split with another immense Polish band Dark Fury and a new project called White Devils. As with the prior releases this album is limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies and I own #653.

Given how closely written the material is written, this is more of a continuation of the material we found on "Ex Tenebris..." and "Holy War". So if you've been enjoying what War has had to offer so far, then the split material will happily continue this for you. They do experiment with layered vocals a bit more with songs like "Faust's Vision". Unfortunately, as with some of the Behemoth Death Metal albums, the vocal layering just dominates the mix and you really can't hear the music very well anymore. Aside from that "Faust's Vision" is nearly flawless and one of the better songs composed by War, in general. The four tracks definitely keep up with this and parts of "Old Prey" have a more spacey feel at times, which is a really interesting change of pace for the band. But it still really works with their sound, so I wouldn't mind hearing more of that in their future releases.

War - Holy War
Under the Sign of Garazel Productions, 2005
Genre: Black Metal

1. Holy War
2. My Funeral
3. Strength & Honor
4. Dogs of War
5. My Faith










After just one year War return with another full length on the same label. Like the last album it comes in limited quantities. This time it is limited to 999 hand-numbered copies and I own #951. There's a bit more to look at with this album too and here we get a fold-out booklet that features lyrics for more than one song at least. They don't share all the lyrics with us, but they do share some, at least.

"Holy War" seems to be highly inspired by the apparent rise of extremist Islam against the world. A lot of Black Metal bands are taking note of this and many are shifting from hatred of Christianity to fight against Islam as more of a focus. A couple years before "Holy War" was released Lord Belial put out their controversial song "Purify Sweden". Some bands take this new focus as an inspiration to reject all religions as dangerous and worth fighting against. I'm more strictly in this camp. The racist groups seem to take this as a clear race war since Islam is predominantly out of the Middle East... but I feel like that's a somewhat foolish take because damaging religions like Christianity, although spawned in the Middle East, have grown beyond and are all over Europe. However, there's no denying the hatred many feel towards the extremist adherents post 9/11, which has really given Black Metal art a boost in the direction of "see what happens when you have religion".

The concept aside, the music on this album is very excellent. Its definitely along the lines of "Ex Tenebris Nasceris ut Deleas", but given their playing around with track length on this release, its a much more epic experience all around. The epic nature puts it on par with "Ex Tenebris" because War has had to write riffs in a particular way that they are interesting over quite a bit of repetition. Luckily they're good enough writers to have succeeded in this goal. I feel like the vocal arrangements are a lot more dynamic than the prior album as well. He really shifts between a more mid-range growl and at times hits some of the higher range elements we first experienced on "Age of Unbelieve". This is really how a great vocal arrangement works out.

In the end this is another excellent release from this band. I wish War was more of a household name in the Black Metal scene, alas I do not hear them referenced very often despite a strong discography. If you really enjoyed "Ex Tenebris" then "Holy War" is certainly worth hearing as well. "Ex Tenebris" might be a little stronger in the end, but it is not that much stronger than this.

War - Ex Tenebris Nasceris ut Deleas
Under the Sign of Garazel Productions, 2004
Genre: Black Metla

1. Empty World
2. Night Cold
3. The Days of Tyrants
4. Sigillum Diabolicum
5. For the Truth and Ideals
6. The Black Flame








Here we have War's first official release. The debut with an amazing label Under the Sign of Garazel and this is exactly the type of label to get War's name out there into the underground. This album is definitely a new evolution for the War sound and is quite different compare to "Dawn of New Epoch". Like many of the earlier Garazel releases this album is limited to 500 hand-numbered copies and I happen to own #150.

"Ex Tenebris Nasceris ut Deleas" is really a monumental album for War. Its so much more vicious than anything they've ever produced before. Not to mention the whole middle section of "The Days of Tyrants" is so incredibly dark it really transcends a lot of the other material they've ever written. It sounds like War has been keeping up with the likes of Arkona over the years and has included a lot more blasting and intense sections in their writing. They still retain sections that are almost purely majestic as well like in "For the Truth and Ideals", which has some truly awe inspiring sections. War has really given us a truly special release and it is a shame it is limited to so few and I fear this material will be lost over the years. I am glad I was able to get an original copy of this release to share with everyone.

In the end I wasn't expecting this kind of release given what I had heard from "Dawn of New Epoch". I think this new direction is even better for War and seems to fit their name a little better than before. Its intense, vicious, and still epic all at once. I also like that they haven't fallen into the modern methods of having over produced Black Metal, so there's still a very organic feel and approach to their music. This time the writing just feels a lot more mature though and I really look forward to what they will have in the future, especially if they're going to continue in this direction.

War - Dawn of New Epoch
Self-Released, 2002
Genre: Black Metal

1. The Revenge
2. Hate Must Go On
3. New Time Will Come
4. The Unknown
5. Last Attack
6. Illusion of Life
7. Dawn of New Epoch
8. Fog
9. Dark Land







After a nearly ten year wait, War returns with their debut full-length. They bring is all new material, but it doesn't seem that much has changed over the years. Naturally, the recording quality is far superior to their demo days, especially that of "Age of Unbelieve". War seem rooted in the simplicity of the early 90's, which is really interesting to listen to in the more modern times, because it feels like this project has simply been well preserved over the years. I do wonder if these are songs written sometime after "Age of Unbelieve", but the band was never able to really bring them to the light of day until now. The original version of this album was never supposed to exist either and only a few CDr's were sent to

friends of the band. This leads me to the edition I own which is the 2007 re-release which also comes with "The War Horde" making this really worth having in the context of the bands history. Unfortunately, in this re-edition one of the songs "Illusion of Life" has been left off and I'm not sure why that is.

Either way, I am glad to have this release in whatever form I could find it. The material presented on here is definitely worth hearing historically and just because its really solid Black Metal. At times the material comes more with a modern element of melancholy that seems to have grown out of the original Burzum style of the early days. War do a great job at including this element into their sound, which gives this release a bit more of a modern flair amidst all the older sounding material. I am happy to see that the bass work still manages to stand out quite a bit from time to time like the early days of "The War Horde". The vocals have settled into a sort of mid-range growl, which gives the album more attack than some of the prior material, but works pretty well for the project.

It's nice to see this project get resurrected. I'm glad to see that their debut and their ability to perform Black Metal is just as strong as ever. A lot of times you wonder how drastically the musicians have changed over the years with all the different kinds of influences that can exist out there. With War, the answer is they haven't changed all that much from the days of 1994. I hope their return to Black Metal is not as brief as their demo days.

War - The Age of Unbelieve
Self-Released, 1994
Genre: Black Metal

1. Age of Unbelieve
2. ...of Hell
3. War and Hate
4. The Winds are Calling
5. Dark Sacrifice
6. Desecrator
7. Born of Fear

The second demo from War, also released in the highly productive year 1994. As with the last tape, I also do not own a copy of this one, but I do own the re-release of the material on CD from 2011 and limited to 300 copies. Unfortunately the album title has been misprinted and there were other serious problems with this release, which seem to make this rather difficult to find. I'm surprised this just didn't get tagged onto a future full-length because this demo is only about fourteen minutes long. On the other hand... the recording quality is actually very poor compared to The War Horde, so I can see why the band wasn't interested in releasing this material very much.

Even though this recording has been remastered, there's just no way to salvage the poor quality when its recorded in this fashion. Unlike "The War Horde" the raw recording quality kind of takes away from the recording, because it is bathed in a level of static that makes it challenging to follow what is happening. It seems like the writing is certainly on par with "The War Horde", so it is a shame that the recording could not be salvaged in the same way the first demo was. The vocal performance is also strikingly different from the debut release. Here the vocals are presented in a more typical Black Metal fashion with a harsh rasp rather than the more high pitched wail of before.

In the end, this demo is more well written than "The War Horde", but the production really is a massive barrier from letting us see that. It is an unfortunate aspect of this release and I really wish it could have been better preserved over the years. After this the band would take quite an incredible hiatus. Despite being formed in the early days of the Polish scene we won't hear from them again until 2002 when the project seems to get resurrected.

 War - The War Horde
Self-Released, 1994
Genre: Black Metal

1. The Witches
2. Age of War
3. Eclipse
4. Deadspeak
5. Fog
6. In the Fire
7. Dreams About a Fear
8. This Dark Land it's Mine








Listed as their first demo, but with eight tracks this is practically a debut full-length. Unfortunately, it only clocks in at around twenty-five minutes, so the songs are quite short on average. It is strange that a band has arisen in the music scene with this name. It's a great name for a Black Metal band, but there is already a very well known band from the 70's with this same name. More unfortunately, I was never able to track down this original demo tape. So, for the purposes of this review I am working with the re-released recordings published in 2007 with "Dawn of a New Epoch".

It's sort of incredible that War isn't a more well known project given how early this band started out. "The War Horde" is also heavily rooted in the ways of the early 90's Black Metal, so fans of bands like Arkona should be looking into this demo. Despite being in the early class of the genre, War write some fairly compelling music. "Eclipse" has some awesome blend of Emperor and Darkthrone styled together. Its the type of old recording where the harshness actually adds to the music rather than takes away, especially with the thunderous bass shining through in sections. The vocals are fairly low in the mix, but that's alright because it appears they follow in the footsteps of Burzum's higher shrieks. With this vocal style low in the mix it never really overwhelms the music, which I see happen all too often with this approach.

This is a very promising debut recording. Perhaps the track lengths are on the short side, but they perform at a particular level that is very well done. This is definitely a band to be watching over the years with a debut that is fairly strong.