THALLIUM: "Armanenschaft"

I’m pretty confident that Thallium’s second full-length Armanenschaft is a love-or-hate case, being a really sloppily executed black metal album in the spirit of early Graveland and Veles, and I mean very sloppy. How come, then, that I may rate an album of this kind so highly? It’s the charm and magic of unpredictable music. Armanenschaft is, despite the somewhat clear studio production, the exact opposite of generic modern metal where all stones have been turned and the listeners accustomed to precise, almost digitalized playing.

To elaborate the actual music further, Thallium focuses here on atmospheric, wistful and largely melodic (thanks to the loud synths) black metal where mid-tempo drums, no matter how randomly actually played, hold the fuzzy rhythm guitars together, the synths being the main source of melody. The importance of the synths comes clear right on the first metal track ”Return from Near Death”, only to increase on ”Our Dreams Belongs to the Stars” where they dominate even more.

The moderately slow and misty music ends for a while on ”Eagle’s Eye” which is a furious, blast beat filled five minutes, nodding more to Evil’s, Warwolf’s main band’s, direction. ”II” and the bookends provide synth and piano driven material solely, taking a prominent ten minutes of the album’s total length, hence being an important part of the album as well.

Armanenschaft isn’t the most original black metal recording and clearly tries not to be, and sometimes the sloppiness might be more for the album’s bad than good, but there’s something in the natural sound of the album that keeps me getting back to the record every once in a while. Those with a primitive yet melodic taste for black metal are recommended to look into this worthwile effort that hopefully receives continuation in the future.

3.5 / 5

HAMMERGOAT: "Regeneration Through Depopulation..."

As the artwork - morbid black & white imagery with red texts - imply, Regeneration Through Depopulation... is bestial black / death metal to the bone, no compromises whatsoever: influences of e.g. Blasphemy and Hellhammer shine through in these raw, ugly pieces of filthiness.  Although Hammergoat’s debut offering is certainly not the most rememberable album in this field, it succeeds in creating a murderous atmosphere, and that alone gives the album enough merits in my books.

And what best, Regeneration Through Population... is a consistent whole: it runs for just 30 minutes which is a great - and almost maximum - length for this kind of savage metal that doesn’t show much signs of mercy. Somewhat surprisingly, the songs run for averagely long, for example ”The Aftermath of War” is close to the 7-minute mark and still holds my attention throughout. Tempos vary nicely from mid-tempo sections à la Archgoat to faster bursts. A Sarcófago cover of ”The Black Vomit” is added to the whole as well, so I believe you are very aware already what this album offers. Production-wise, Hammergoat manages to create a cavernous sound even if it doesn’t sound so filled with reverb, no, this sounds more natural than just a lame effect in the mixing production. So don’t expect to hear as deep and abyssal sound as Wrathprayer and Nocturnal Blood provide, this is somewhat muddier and rehearsal-like.

It’s hard to recommend Regeneration Through Depopulation... to anyone else than the old school worshippers of the Ross Bay Cult, other people will most likely consider this being really unoriginal - which it ultimately is but that doesn’t necessarily hinder from liking it - and bland. Of all the ’Goats out there, I would surely choose Archgoat over Hammergoat when I’m up for some ass-kicking darkness, but Regeneration Through Depopulation... is still a worthy investment to attach to your old school metal shelves. Heck, to me the album sounds even fresh right now as I’ve been surrounded by a dozen of post-rock experimental black metal fusion albums lately. 

3 / 5