Definitely not inexperienced as far as Black Metal is concerned, Polish Besatt, who have been brought to life in 1991, bring forth their fourth album, titled Sacrifice for Satan. Treading the old Bathory path, with a couple of influences from early German Thrash Metal, and capitalising from a strong (not at all unheard of) antichristian feature, Fulmineus, Beldaroth and Agonus unload all their hatred in eight hymns to Darkness, punctuated by the common places of the genre.

Sacrifice for Satan begins with a Latin invocation (Gloria Causa Satani) and the full black and white layout adds to the atmosphere, bearing in mind the fact that the pictures include corpsepaint. Recorded at Cyber Studios, Poland, during January 2004, the result is an amalgamate of obscure melodies with hypnotizing rhythms, not necessarily raw and with the addition of a significant amount of atmospheric passages. All things considered, even though Besatt do not score on the originality or innovation department, they sum up rather nicely the trademark features of obscurer Black Metal.

The promo package includes a multimedia section where, amongst others, we are given the opportunity to watch a videoclip to the song Kingdom of Hatred, illustrating Death and Hatred towards Christian ideology and belief by means of the widely used concept of Christ carrying the cross. This Christ figure is, however, quite peculiar, for he does have a beer belly. And so is the image of Death, the Grim Reaper, with a nice goatee. Oh the sweet scent of modernity…

Official Site Besatt

Besatt - Time For Gathering

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Opening track “Goatcraft Torment” starts up with “This is Satanic Black Metal”, so i guess they play…Satanic Black Metal? good to know, i won’t have to spend a couple of minutes figuring out what the heck are they playing, not that i have anything against black metal or now that i think of it Satan, i just think that’s silly to coin yourself from the get go, does it mean that all the tracks will be about Satan? like “ahh Satan took a shower GRRR and ate some infidels christians for breakfast YARRR” wait, now that i think of it…. that would be cool, well let’s head back to Urgehal’s “Goatcraft Torment”.

“Goatcraft Torment” starts with that amusing “This is Satanic Black Metal”, i don’t know if that was the objective, but i find it amusing, tha and lyrics like like “die for satan”, maybe it’s me but who said that Satan cares, maybe if Urgehal says so, it must be true, hehehe, ok, ok i’ll stop with the funny business, music wise this is some well crafted black metal, i like the production, it’s clean and to the point, “Risus Sardonius” is again a solid track, with loads of blasting, “Antireligiøs” is again blasting black metal, great guitar work, and it seems they don’t just love Satan, they hate everyone else’s “religion”, “Dødsmarsj Til Helvete” is a bit more straight black metal track, slower pace but nice nevertheless.

“Satanic Black Metal In Hell” bring the blasting back with vengeance, it’s straight to fucking hell, i liked this one, “Nefastus Nex Necis” is actually the first classic black metal in the album, with all those nice touches, you know that eerie feel through, slightly melodic, short pattern blast, talking speed harsh vocals, with a touch of guitar solo, again a great track, “Gathered Under The Horns” is a another evil black metal track, with nice little touches that keep it fresh and moving, “Selvmordssalme” seems like the continuation of the later track, “Sentiment Of Chaos” brings the blasting and a bit heavier attitude, the last track “Et Steg Nærmere Lucifer” closes shop, it’s slow and methodic, i wouldn’t expect it any other way.

This is one kick ass album, loads of pace throughout, i know Urgehal have been around for ages, and the fact that they stick to their guns and drop quality material is always a good thing, they really loving Satan (and all that sodomy, children bashing, torture, general violence, you know all that great “evil” stuff Satan apparently endorses) doesn’t seem to influence too much on the quality of the music, and that’s for me the most important aspect, because this is solid black metal album, hell even though I’m not that much into black metal this one had me headbanging a couple of times.

Urgehal - Satanic Black Metal In Hell

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Ram-Zet hail from Norway and therefore they play…. Progressive Metal? well they do throw in Death/Black/Industrial and of course some symphonic touches, mostly through the piano/violin combo, that and the dual vocals (harsh male/clean female), do create a Progressive metal kind of fusion, seems people are calling it Avant Garde Metal (or Schizo Metal/Experimental Metal), so let’s just have a look at “Escape”.

Well it all starts off with “R.I.P.”, and goddamn if it’s not a fantastic track, it starts with a Gothic like female serenade, then you are hit by that death metal/harsh vocals/clean vocals groove combo, followed by a violin guitar passage to another death metal section that just pours down to a piano female clean vocals, that builds to a metal spree/clean female vocals, and then back on the death harsh vocals than back onto the violin passage, then …. and we are just half way through the first song, suffice to say you get a … what the fuck moment 3 quarters way through, with a guitar solo/piano building up to a Gothic “we are all going to die” kind of thing, brilliant.

Am i going to review all the other tracks just like that, well no, but i can tell you that “Queen” is the single…i think, it’s kinda nice, but it’s more for commercial play, “The Claustrophobic Journey” is really a groovy track and the first with really good pace (they do have a tendency to stop and start playing something else, then stop again and play another thing, like in the first track), “Sound of Tranquility Peace?” is a good track as well, “The Seeker” is a beautiful track, death metal almost all the way through interchanging with calmer moments for the female vocals, and half way through, it has what i could describe as some kids toy like a sponge ball sound playing, and then some … i don’t know what that sound is, calming down near the end to build up to some funky death on the end, again great.

“Pray” is the death/gothic track, really nicely put and actually the most approachable on the track, again a beautiful heavy track uhhh “I’m Not Dead” is is a a pure mind bender, freaky and spooky, and heavy as shit, with a lot of bass work and it finishes perfectly, finally the last track “The Moment She Died”, and damn me if it’s not the perfect finishing track, heavy and unexpected, groovy as shit, finishes about 2 thirds in with a lot of strange sounds.

Ram-zet is one of the reasons i really enjoyed Unexpect, it has the same vibe, of experimentation, i can assure everyone, this is one hell of an album, sure it’s not perfect, but production is great, there is stuff for everyone (death/gothic/whatever) to enjoy, its a load of fun to listen, much more approachable than Unexpected, and i do love the clean female vocals, the violin work and the guitar work, hell everything was top notch, i know they have another album out (for like a year), but i still don’t have it, and i do really like this album, I’ll check the other one when i can get my hands on it, but for now, go and check this one out, please… pretty please.

Official Site Ram-zet | Video for Queen

Ram-Zet - Queen
Ram-Zet - The Claustrophobic Journey

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