Alastor
Silva Nordica
8.1
Synopsis:
Competent old school feeling black metal from Austria with a modern edge.
Review:
At first I had this long running Austrian band confused with Alastis, but after the brittle and trebley yet menacing guitar tone licked out for the introductory “Summer’s End” I was soon righted. Even though the band has been around in various guises since 1995, this is the their full length debut, and--take this as good or bad--this feels like a black metal album from 1995.
There’s a sort of early Samael, early Rotting Christ early Enslaved and a less speedy Immortal, meets the newer strain of taught, depressive drawn out black metal going on here. The mix of tremolo picked blast beats, and long undulating segments of strained angst within 7-8 minutes songs is balanced perfectly with Sadorider’s understated steady rasps.
Free of synths, the frosty majesty of the material is conveyed by the stripped, yet somehow effective and layered guitars and chord progressions as heard on tracks like “Zero Death”, and especially the superb “Falckenstain” and militaristic and regal “Haichenbach”, that somehow don’t come across as completely grim and frostbitten, but starkly beautiful like a northern forest shimmering after a heavy snow.
The disturbing choke of “Prologue” splits the album in half before the epic eight-minute title tracks shivers from the speakers with an urgent , classic black metal gait that switches from austere mid paced march to impressive expectedly high end blasting. The bleakly epic “Back From the Forest” and more somber/tempered instrumental closer “Comfort the Silence” round out an album that, as I listen to more and more, really grew on me as a damn fine black metal album with huge appeal to both old and new fans.
Surprisingly recommended if you can hunt it down...
