Albtraum is a solo project from Germany, with Chival dealing with all instruments besides writing the material and releasing it in the sign of his own label Goatlord. Started out in 2012 with the early name of Hellgoat, its first release Misanthropic Antichrist comes in the form of a six-track demo also available as tape cassette, which indeed fits the author’s declared inspiration and devotion to a very pristine form of black metal.
Early Bathory, Mayhem and maybe Morbid are in fact the prevalent influences, in the scheme of the music and the use of vocals. After “Six Bells of Doom”, which is actually a ghostly intro with ambient atmospheres and creepy vocals, we have “Armageddon” which outlines rather exhaustively the general disposition of the demo. The riffs are basic, mainly tremolo picking, and the guitars and ruthless vocals are highlighted, at times at disadvantage of the rhythmic parts. Here one can detect some kind of problem, which can be noted especially on “Unholy Cross” as the drums and bass do not blend well with the cutting guitars and the vocals, or rather, the bass is not well perceived and the drums are a bit too flat, each instrument seems almost severed from the others. “Blasphemy” is more aimed in the direction of sonic chaos, with more buzzing guitars, harsher vocals in an obsessive, manic invocation, and a more uneven and varied sound; the result is somewhat better, you don’t get the same impression of disengagement and, at odds and ends, the track might actually sound as something from a 90’s demo record. The lyrics are obviously trademark anti-Christian hate. “Buried Alive” follows the tradition of longer composition; it touches 8 minutes and obviously takes some more effort in terms of songwriting and variety of tempo. Indeed it manages to strike some chords on an imaginative level, although it is still in need of carving. That’s also the overall impression about Misanthropic Antichrist, that it is improvable – it has weak points, for example in some stages the songs sound slower than they should be and there’s certainly something to adjust with the mixing. But, let me say, as far as black metal is supposed to be evoking dark realms, sounds of wretchedness, and notably anti-religious ferocity, it hits some targets. Having said that, forget any fantasy of majestic playing or theatricality: what you can find here is basic song construction, few, almost obsessive guitar riffs, raw-to-the-bone production. If that’s what you’re looking for, Albtraum’s job reflects a precise choice to keep his music essential and, in a way, unspoiled. Besides, it’s a very recent project and there’s certainly room for future developments.
Notes:
Release date: July 15 2014 on Goatlord Records. The album can be listened to here: http://albtraum-metal.net/audio.
Early Bathory, Mayhem and maybe Morbid are in fact the prevalent influences, in the scheme of the music and the use of vocals. After “Six Bells of Doom”, which is actually a ghostly intro with ambient atmospheres and creepy vocals, we have “Armageddon” which outlines rather exhaustively the general disposition of the demo. The riffs are basic, mainly tremolo picking, and the guitars and ruthless vocals are highlighted, at times at disadvantage of the rhythmic parts. Here one can detect some kind of problem, which can be noted especially on “Unholy Cross” as the drums and bass do not blend well with the cutting guitars and the vocals, or rather, the bass is not well perceived and the drums are a bit too flat, each instrument seems almost severed from the others. “Blasphemy” is more aimed in the direction of sonic chaos, with more buzzing guitars, harsher vocals in an obsessive, manic invocation, and a more uneven and varied sound; the result is somewhat better, you don’t get the same impression of disengagement and, at odds and ends, the track might actually sound as something from a 90’s demo record. The lyrics are obviously trademark anti-Christian hate. “Buried Alive” follows the tradition of longer composition; it touches 8 minutes and obviously takes some more effort in terms of songwriting and variety of tempo. Indeed it manages to strike some chords on an imaginative level, although it is still in need of carving. That’s also the overall impression about Misanthropic Antichrist, that it is improvable – it has weak points, for example in some stages the songs sound slower than they should be and there’s certainly something to adjust with the mixing. But, let me say, as far as black metal is supposed to be evoking dark realms, sounds of wretchedness, and notably anti-religious ferocity, it hits some targets. Having said that, forget any fantasy of majestic playing or theatricality: what you can find here is basic song construction, few, almost obsessive guitar riffs, raw-to-the-bone production. If that’s what you’re looking for, Albtraum’s job reflects a precise choice to keep his music essential and, in a way, unspoiled. Besides, it’s a very recent project and there’s certainly room for future developments.
Notes:
Release date: July 15 2014 on Goatlord Records. The album can be listened to here: http://albtraum-metal.net/audio.
| Tracklist: 1. Six Bells of Doom (Intro) 2. Armageddon 3. Blasphemy 4. Unholy Cross 5. Buried Alive 6. Outro | 03:06 03:59 03:46 03:57 08:06 01:02 23:56 |
Personnel:
Chival: everything
Text by Arianna
arianna@unholyblackmetal.com
Chival: everything
Text by Arianna
arianna@unholyblackmetal.com