Svart Crown - Witnessing The Fall review
| Band: | Svart Crown |
| Album: | Witnessing The Fall |
| Style: | Black metal, Death metal |
| Release date: | October 2010 |
01. Where The Light Ends
02. Colosseum
03. Dogs Of God
04. Nahash The Temptator
05. Here Comes Your Salvation
06. Into A Demential Sea
07. An Eternal Descent
08. Strengh Higher Than Justice
09. Incestuous Breath
10. Of Sulphur And Fire
Well, I don't know what it is they put in the water in France but their pedigree for making top-notch metal, particularly anything related to black metal, can never be overstated. With their sophomore record, Witnessing The Fall, Svart Crown are another nail in the coffin of an ever increasing line of noise makers who've taken the best of black and infused it with technical proficiency, a sense of terror, a fistful of brutality and a whole... container of creativity. Unlike my ability to use metaphors apparently.
The dish of the day is blackened death metal; relentless, pummelling and dynamic but with a guarded sense of melody and restraint where necessary. Vocally we're flambéed with a mid-ground, highly caustic compound of both black and death metal spewings, throughout the discourse remaining relatively unchanged; hardly an issue as it serves the cold, sterile tones of the record extremely well indeed. The tones I'm speaking of are crushing and suffocating but also produced with crystal clarity so each stroke, every time-change and the beat of every drum finds you like a precision scalpel to the gullet. Rarely, if ever, does the almost machine-like technical prowess overshadow creative song writing. It may take a listen or three to comprehend but there's more than enough variety within the 45 minute run; ad-hoc solos, foreboding lulls in pace, subtle injections of melody and constantly shifting structures make this a far deeper listening experience than one might expect from such an aggressive style.
The most interesting track has to be the lengthy 8 minute album closer: "Of Sulphur And Fire", which I can only assume is pure homage to Deathspell Omega; a number almost totally bereft of the concrete style Svart Crown have built up in the preceding minutes, instead concentrating on the clean dissonant riffing seen in the likes of Virus and Ved Buens Ende (and most similarly implemented in many songs by Deathspell Omega). It's a wonderfully complex finish to the album; pure sophisticated dissension.
Having only briefly tackled Svart Crown's debut I can't say for certain if this beats it but I can say for sure it's just as good. It's modern, charismatic and exceptionally well balanced and perfectly complements the death-ier side of Deathspell Omega, whose fans I can visualise flocking to Svart Crown in droves. Don't be fooled though, they ain't no DsO wannabes; they have their own path and are traversing it with lethal abandon.
Comments
Comments: 28
Visited by: 232 users
| Mikyz Posts: 711 From: Lebanon  |
This sounds awesome, I'm going to give them a listen right now. Damn this review got me excited for tomorrow. Good job.
---- Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
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| Asunder Posts: 60 |
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| Mikyz Posts: 711 From: Lebanon |
Written by Guest on 08.11.2010 at 15:33 I might not, you never know. But I'll enjoy it while I can.
---- Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Posts: 5068 From: Greece  |
Great album indeed and great review  An interview will be around as soon as i receive the answers 
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by KwonVerge on 08.11.2010 at 15:51 Cheers homeslice, I look forward to reading that! I think these guys could be big in the future. They have the talent for it.
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Posts: 5068 From: Greece |
Written by Guest on 08.11.2010 at 15:54 Indeed, i'd like to hear them make their sound more twisted!
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Posts: 5068 From: Greece |
Written by Guest on 08.11.2010 at 15:58 blackened Post-funeral doom/death metal
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by KwonVerge on 08.11.2010 at 16:01 Haha, post-funeral doom. That's a new one to me O.o
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Posts: 5068 From: Greece |
Written by Guest on 08.11.2010 at 16:03 Same here, i bet it would be funeral doom with electronics or something  mechanizing the pain xD
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by KwonVerge on 08.11.2010 at 16:11 I would definitely listen to that!
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Posts: 5068 From: Greece |
Written by Guest on 08.11.2010 at 16:14 Me too, some band try this please?!
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by KwonVerge on 08.11.2010 at 16:16 You could try P.H.O.B.O.S. They aren't a million miles away from it 
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Posts: 5068 From: Greece |
Written by Guest on 08.11.2010 at 16:18 Didn't know them, thanks for the info, started searching Woods Of Belial are pretty obscure too and chaotic
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| InnerSelf proofread free Posts: 2641 From: Germany  |
I am not a big fan of Blackened death metal but when DsO were mentioned I was intrigued , will check this out when I have time "wish-list updated" nice review
---- He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 From: UK  |
Written by KwonVerge on 08.11.2010 at 16:11 Nope, it would be total silence...
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Posts: 5068 From: Greece |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 10.11.2010 at 12:34 that would be so post funeral
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| Ag Fox Angel No More Posts: 4774 From: Hong Kong  |
Whole album gets streamed here
---- loves 小巫
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| Daniell _爱情_ Posts: 6058 From: Poland  |
It didn't amaze me as much as I hoped, but it's very very well done. The album flows smoothly from start to finish and never gets boring. A comparison with Ophis comes to my mind. Obviously, music is very different, but both bands do the same thing very well: they use well known ingredients but the way they mix them is exceptionally efficient, and simply cool to listen to.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden  |
Holy shit why did I come so late to the party?! This album is fantastic, it's technical enough to make me good nuts and "how the hell do they do that?" but the atmosphere is still there, haunting and vicious. Also... omfg the drummer is AMAZING. One of the few albums where the drummers alone makes me listen with more attention. Have to buy this album. Great review Joe!
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Posts: 21306 From: Canada  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 06.07.2011 at 20:43 I hear it's fashionable to do that.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 06.07.2011 at 20:44 Not when it comes to discover new music I would have bought this album for a long time ago if I paid attention to it back when it was released. Now I'm kind of broke and already have plans for my cd-money
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 8973 From: Canada  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 06.07.2011 at 20:43 I came even later, and everyone is already passed out >> Clicked on the tag from the Ulcerate news, and listen to the MySpace player for a while, and holy cow. This is some good shizzle.
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| mz Posts: 4773  |
Written by Boxcar Willy on 22.05.2012 at 14:42 I came even later, and everyone is already passed out >>
---- Giving my ears a rest from music.
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