Friday, November 16, 2012

BALBERITH "Darkness.Death.Legion"

 
BALBERITH "Darkness.Death.Legion" (Ravage Records)
Doesn't REVENGE holds an exclusive rights for titles like these? Haha. At least BALBERITH doesn't sounds like a loyalist copycat of them though. BALBERITH exists long enough to be aware of carving their own interpretation on black Metal exclusively. And for as long as they exist I'm only familiar with their split with KRATORNAS and now this. I did a head-to-head comparison between these two, and I find on "Darkness.Death.Legion" BALBERITH concentrates more on the mid-paced passages and accentuate to include more variations of their hymns. On the split it feels like they are going straight for the killing rawness and nothing else, on this album there are ample rooms and corners for them to exploit each songs more elaborately. But that emphasis on mid-pacing tendency is the most prevalent here. It is there, in almost every song I might add. I'd rather see it as the band's personal progression within, not really a changing course, because the fumes of BALBERITH is still here, no mistake on that. The compositions are seemingly being given more room to stand on its own now, albeit some of the passages are being dragged a bit too long for its own good. The album has its moments of superiority, but don't expect the graph to be at all time high. While it might seems a bit predictable, "Darkness.Death.Legion" still is a devout black Metal album with no compromises. Does the artwork looks familiar? It's another good job from Ironworx Gravefix.

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