Year: 2020
Total Time: 57:00
Label: Self-Financed
What’s “true” (black) metal? Well, here’s a difficult one and there isn’t a universally accepted answer. And even if there was, regarding some characteristics of the genre, its application on different groups and artists would be largely diverse and therefor meaningless.
So, would it be that “true” means what exists in its purest form? And if that’s it, when does something is at its purest? At birth or during its maturity when it has settled down full of experiences that led to self-awareness? Perhaps the word “authentic” is more adequate than “true” but then “authentic” following which archetype?
Well, to cut a long thought short: for those who love the second wave and the music that came out from the beginning to the mid 90s you are going to love DRENGSKAPUR’s latest release “Was Der Morast Verschlang”. In its 57 minutes you’ll find some fine pagan black metal that evokes some early ULVER, IN THE WOODS and PRIMORDIAL and that 1994-95 flavour is the most recent you’ll get. We have also the classic aroma of the early Norwegian black metal scene omnipresent but I’d say more open-sounding and surely more to the epic side of the game.
The tracks are long for the genre but well-structured and well-placed in an album that builds its atmosphere methodically from start to finish.
There are many elements from the jeunesse of the genre that I liked but what hit me as something very interesting was the rawness of the sound. There’s no perfection in this album and thank god that there isn’t. The drums aren’t edited to death in fact none of the instruments are. The energy doesn’t occur through the digital alignment of sound waves in a DAW, but from the band playing passionately, fiercely and with a common artistic vision. Wintergrimm on vocals and guitar and Hiverfroid on drums deliver uncompromising extreme metal and they do it naturally, passionately and in the old-school way.
From the seven tracks of the album the first six are original compositions with lyrics in German, while the last “Where Ancient Lords Gather” is the only one in English being also a cover of the Swedish band THRONE OF AHAZ from their 1995 debut “Niefelheim”.
Back to my long thought… I love old school stuff. Most of all, I love the artistic attitude of the early 90’s black metal scene which was in my oppinion the last avant-garde artistic movement of the 20th century without even knowing it. The Germans in their latest full-length album are authentic to that archetype. They don’t copy, they revive the spirit of the early second wave embellished with epic-pagan-atmospheric elements and in that essence, they are pure and subjectively speaking “true”.
So, let’s give them a 9/10 and close it here… well, that’s not going to happen. And the only reason is that 2020 gave us some excellent releases (“Was der Morast Verschlang” being one of them) which really elevated my requirements and expectations as a listener. There were releases that in my oppinion pushed the boundaries of the genre further. Others that proudly celebrated the origins of extreme metal and others that underlined the evolution of the genre. But most of them regardless the direction they followed were killer albums. ANAAL NATHRAKH, HAVUKRUUNU, IMHA TARIKAT, SUNKEN, TOADEATER just to name a few, redefined the (more or less poorly designed) “1 out of 10” point system.
But who cares about the numbers? The music is what matters. And for all those out there who love the early and mid ‘90s black metal scene, this treat is for you and you’ll love it. Go get it!
Rating: 7,5/10
Editor: Yiannis Tziallas
Related link: DRENGSKAPUR – Bandcamp Page
