MURW: "In de Mond van Het Onbekende Wacht Een Oceaan"

How long can it actually take to get around to review an album? Well, there are other examples as well that have taken a billion years before I've had anything proper to say about the content, mostly due to complex and profound lyrics that I've wanted to analyze better than every layman's Darkthrone pastiche, but Murw's demo from a couple of years back is such a weird affair that it has challenged me quite successfully. On In de Mond van Het Onbekende Wacht Een Oceaan, this Dutch group delivers fifty minutes of underground and rather low fidelity black metal that, despite my expectations of traditional black metal, does compromise a lot.

Things seem natural when the beautiful guitar melodies of the intro kick in, and when the murky main riff of the first proper track appears, a tad later joined by steady blast beats. But it takes less than four minutes when Striborg esque odd synths distort the atmosphere into something quite unique. From there on and throughout the playing time, In de Mond... crawls forth like a convulsing ugly worm with all kinds of unexpected twists in a rather slow tempo, but the beauty aspect first fronted in the intro is carried throughout the record as well, appearing in a myriad of lead guitar melodies. Yes, there's a lot of melody in here despite the extremely challenging nature of the album.

I feel uneasy right now, struggling to come up with words describing In de Mond... and I suppose it is both a positive and negative thing. Murw has most certainly created a musical journey unlike anyone else, but it is also hard to find anything really grabbing from the complex mess, save a couple of the lead melodies. Musicianship is pretty top notch, no question of that, these guy seem professional at what they're doing in spite of the overall demo spirit. There's plenty of groove in the drums and the guitars get pretty damn wild at times. In de Mond van Het Onbekende Wacht Een Oceaan is an interesting experience that perhaps just lacks truly impressive songwriting (or then I just haven't given it enough time), hence it's a good listen but I can't say I ever remember much of it afterwards.

3 / 5

HEIMDALLS WACHT: "Nichtorte - Oder Die Geistreise Des Runenschamanen"

I do not consider Germany to spawn the black metal of highest caliber, and probably never will think so. Thousands of almost identical bands result in a scene of rather unattractive mess. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and I'd say that Heimdalls Wacht's Nichtorte - Oder Die Geistreise Des Runenschamanen belongs to these relatively rare albums that somehow stand out. The name of the game is pagan black metal that in practice means beautiful, melancholic riffs that are however executed in distorted tremolo pickings on top of blast beats. There's plenty of Burzum style aggression as well and that is good, it's not about the sweets all the time.

It's hard to put into words how exactly Heimdalls Wacht does the job better than many other contenders – I guess it's simply that the band has more skill in composing tracks that don't bore the listener at any time, even though the album clocks at over sixty minutes. Sure, there's nothing really original about the music presented here, as most of the melody lines have probably been used already in various variations throughout the history of folk / pagan influenced black metal. There are also riffs that could have been written by Sargeist (midway into ”Der Wind gibt mir Geleit” for example), they reek so much of the Finnish scene that someone might get dizzy, but I don't mind because they're not there every second to confuse me.

For general enjoyment, I would have reduced Nichtorte's running time. Even if there's mostly quality compositions, it doesn't warrant a perfect listening experience: how many of us can actually listen to an hour of music without any distractions? Atmospheric black metal could be another thing, delving into a lengthy Paysage d'Hiver soundscape when going to sleep or wandering in nature, but in Heimdall Wacht's case, I think it's a tad too much. Anyhow, this is not a serious glitch: one can always enjoy an album in smaller dosages.

Sound-wise, Nichtorte is close to perfect. It is not polished yet the sound is still detailed, upfront. It's harsh yet all instruments are nicely audible. Compositionally, as implied, the album does well too, though I don't think there's any song that would truly rend my heart or something along those lines. ”Ignis Fatuus” belongs to my favourities - do not be too surprised to find some clean singing from this piece, or from the whole album in general! It is done tastefully, fortunately. Nichtorte - Oder Die Geistreise Des Runenschamanen works as a fine example of well done pagan black metal. It is not otherworldly at any time, but it's surprisingly consistent for its lengthy running time.

3.5 / 5