BLACKMOON WARRIOR 88: "W.P.G."

 

In spite of keeping rather low profile and limiting releases to less than 100 copies, Blackmoon Warrior 88 has received an unimaginable amount of criticism on various message boards, but after giving W.P.G. an honest listen, I do not understand the incessant flaming. At all. Except, well, the little thing that this is deeply National Socialistic material. I’m no nazi, but I will not deny the music’s brilliance here.

As far as I’m aware, Blackmoon Warrior - the person behind this project - is also responsible for the noise project Pogromnacht, and the noise elements are very evident here in the beginning of W.P.G. (White Power Gang), as the first minutes of the tape consist of low-end rumbling noise that seems to have sounds of war behind it, but then again, I am not sure if it’s a real sample or just skillfully generated sounds.

After that kicks in the black metal that is on the verge of noise as well, much thanks to the brilliant guitar sound that must be one of the most violent of guitar tones I’ve heard to this date. It’s screeching, ringing, damn distorted, and when these simple, menacing riffs are played with that sound, the result is magnificent. Drums are somewhere in the background an apparently programmed, but it doesn’t matter a thing as it’s done tastefully. Vocals are a little buried as well, so those afraid of nazi propaganda can give this a spin without a clear exposure to the tabu.

The tape lasts for about ten minutes and, unlike websites like Metal Archives imply, it consists of just one long track, or two if you wan’t to exclude the noise intro to its own track. The four song names circulating around the net are actually the four first lines of lyrics of W.P.G. Definitely a recommended piece of NSBM that endures repeated listens, and I’m more than eager to see what this project offers on all its other releases.

4 / 5

MONS VENERIS: "Vastlands of My Decayed Realm"

Although Portuguese raw black metal scene has appealed to me a long time already, for some unknown reason it wasn’t until recently that I exposured myself to Mons Veneris, one of the most important acts in the country’s underground, and also part of the Black Circle Propaganda along with Vetala and Irae. Vastlands of My Decayed Realm is thus the first piece of Mons Veneris I’ve heard, and most certainly I am not let down. In fact, this tape seems to surpass many other releases from this circle of bands.

The key to Vastlands of My Decayed Realm’s success is that it knows how to craft utterly noisy and sick lo-fi black metal but with sufficient amount of musicianship. I don’t mean that you have to be a master of your instrument when you play this kind of filthiness, but compared to acts like Astaroth or Decrepitude, Mons Veneris actually keeps these songs nicely together, evident right after the introductory ”The Cremation of Light” (a true feast on screeching and random guitar noise) on ”Vastlands of My Decayed Realm” that has a really grabbing guitar riff into it along with steady drum beats. ”Darkmoon of the Vampire” returns to the maniacal kind-of-noise of the intro, meaning a low-end guitar (bass?) pattern being repeated in front of some inhuman voices.

”Cursed and Tormented for All Eternity”, then again, gets back to the black metal, but fuck how insane this piece goes as well towards its end. The drum beats remain there, but both guitars on left and right channels turn into an utter mess of high-pitched notes on the fretboard. After this, ”Return to Chaos and Void” seems almost calmful with its howling, mysterious and less distorted guitars, but in reality we’re dealing with another well crafted piece of filth, concluding the demo tape that definitely leaves a positive aftertaste. I would go as far as saying that Vastlands of My Decayed Realm belongs to my favourite Portuguese releases at the moment, and I’ll make sure to keep track of this band’s output from now on.

4 / 5