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Rating:
6.0 |
Uncreation's Dawn - Holy Empire Of Rats 21 November 2012
01. Holy Empire Of Rats 02. Devouring Blight 03. Jaws Of Pestilence 04. Serpent Of The Old (Ye Ever Wrathful One) 05. Sepulchral Madness 06. Operation Ragnarök 07. Wotanic Shocktroops 08. Abandoning The Prison Of Flesh 09. Aards Verdoemenis 10. Sudenveri 11. Outro
Black metal is an extremely varied style of music. It can be hateful and raw, or warm and enveloping. It can be made by a band of many, or by a single person in a small home studio. The sheer variety and creativeness of it is a major attraction to me. But, as with everything good, something can go wrong. Uncreation's Dawn is a black metal band out of Finland, formed at the end of the old millennium. Upon reading the info sheet a picture started to form in my mind of a harsh, cold, and relentless black metal assault. What I received upon plugging in my headphones was something I was not expecting. The black metal was nasty, quick and in your face. Plenty of blastbeats and heavy strung riffs filled my headphones to the point of a musical implosion.
So you must be thinking "Only, a 6?! What gives?"
Well, "What gives" is that the relentless assault can only take one step before it falls flat on its face. The drums and riffs fade away into a monotonous blur of sound; the vocals simply start to get annoying… It all got boring, fast. Not only boring, but almost annoying. The songs started to mix together to the point where I couldn't differentiate between them. Song after song followed the same formula: fast-paced, growled/gurgled vocals, and old-school hybrid riffs. The production falls flat in many areas, song mixing is the exact same, the bass is occasionally overpowering and muddy.
Imagine a huge army of medieval knights ready for battle. The have all their armor, their swords, and horses. They would be ready for battle, apart from the fact that they are missing their shoes. Without them, they are clumsy and virtually useless in battle. They have many aspects of what would make a good knight, but one small detail causes the whole plan to crumble to pieces.
It's not all bad, however. As repetitive and annoying as the vocals are, they have their moments. The violin outro is simply beautiful. I feel that if the band would have taken a little more time to provide some more variation and worked on some of the production, I feel that this could have been a stunning release.
But for now, it remains another album in the pile of mediocrity.
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Performance:
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7 |
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Songwriting:
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6 |
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Originality:
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6 |
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Production:
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6 |
written by BoxCar Willy | 03.11.2012 |
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
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Comments
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6
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Users visited:
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126 |
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| That's a shame, I don't know whether this is their debut (it's the only release on your database), but if it is, then they obviously wasted 13 years making a mediocre album. |
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Honestly? I've seen guys fighting for their army without shoes. You could have used a better example.
Quote: Imagine a huge army of medieval knights ready for battle. The have all their armor, their swords, and horses. They would be ready for battle, apart from the fact that they are missing their shoes
Well, will check this album out. |
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Fredd - 03.11.2012 at 22:42
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I like your style, Tanner.  |
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Syk - 04.11.2012 at 01:00
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"Not only boring, but almost annoying."
That's the point where I'd rate it 5 or lower (haven't heard UD and I don't plan on it any time soon). I rather liked the barefoot cavalry swordsmen analogy...
Can you show me some of that warm black metal? (Hopefully aside from modern Enslaved and their ilk) |
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Written by Syk on 04.11.2012 at 01:00
"Not only boring, but almost annoying."
That's the point where I'd rate it 5 or lower (haven't heard UD and I don't plan on it any time soon). I rather liked the barefoot cavalry swordsmen analogy...
Can you show me some of that warm black metal? (Hopefully aside from modern Enslaved and their ilk)
I was thinking of lowering the rating, probably should have.
Warm black metal I suppose is the blackgaze movement, Deafheaven, Alcest, les Discrets etc. |
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Written by BoxCar Willy on 04.11.2012 at 02:52
Warm black metal I suppose is the blackgaze movement, Deafheaven, Alcest, les Discrets etc.
I'd also list many bm bands not strictly within the blackgaze movement here whose music deals with more romanticist themes. A Forest Of Stars or early Dimmu Borgir are good examples. Maybe it is just me but I have always found those to be uplifting. |
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