tiistai 25. huhtikuuta 2017

Bathagor - Die Spuren des Krieges demo '02


Bathagor - Die Spuren des Krieges demo 2002
1) Leidenträger
2) Schattenzorn
3) Blutsturm
4) Die Spuren des Krieges
5) Nachtgedanken
6) Wege die Misanthropie
7) Rosetränen
8) Bathagor (Kaltes Licht)

Mega / RGhost

I decided to stick to black metal contributions for now. Sort of, for this tape by Germany's Bathagor is quite unusual after all. Rip and scans sent by LKS, thanks as always, and further processed (I think I just separated it into tracks) by me. What is so special about this then? Is it the cool sword-stuck-in-snow cover? No, though I like the neat simplicity of it, it's the line-up of the band. Or more like what they do, as this consists of a fellow doing vocals and lyrics who calls himself Daron and another guy called Dima who does guitar. And that's it. They're not using any other instrumentation besides the aforementioned guitar and (mainly harsh) vocals. And this tape runs for more than 45 minutes! It's pretty much since this is essentially stripped down raw black metal. Of course you can imagine a steady lifeless cold ticking of a cheap drum machine to back this up but it's just not the same thing as actually having it there!

Sound is decent for what it is, the guitar tone is pretty strong and rough, not thin razor sharp or cold and wispy like some forms of raw black metal prefer it. The primary black metal voice is a hoarse croak, not too dissimilar from Abbath's actually. There are attempts at melody so it's not just monotonous raspy gargling. Only mostly. The riffing is varied enough to not bore listener to tears but album length is still too much. I can't help missing a bit more ingredients, but it works better than I remembered and does not lead to scurvy, merely slight malnourishment. Pack something more well-rounded for your ocean voyages but feel free to sample this while on port. Minimalists and eccentrics rejoice, as well as gatherers of German obscurities.

Ei kommentteja: