Having spun the album some twenty times over the past two weeks, I am still not sure what to think of it. It is a slight disappointment, more or less. It is lacking in memorable riffs and those clean vocals are really bad at times.
Not the impact the album could have had. It has some good to great moments but unfortunately also quite some average, mediocre to extremely bad moments.

Did not really expect anything good from that cover tbh :p

Written by mz on 05.10.2016 at 16:27

Did not really expect anything good from that cover tbh :p

The cover art is quite good, tbh.

The art is quite great in my opinion. Love the mix. The music probably wont be disappointing either, its Bölzer after all.

Not a fan of the art myself. Seems kinda garish and poorly put together. Their last one was kinda crappy too, though the demo and first EP have great artwork.

Somehow I thought that you would love the art. I like that its a bit different, not really black or death metallish. Could be an indicator that the music is more unique this time.

Written by [user id=160508] on 05.10.2016 at 17:53

Somehow I thought that you would love the art. I like that its a bit different, not really black or death metallish. Could be an indicator that the music is more unique this time.

I like the colours and the concept, I just don't think it's particularly well realised. Sort of reminds of Discouraged Ones, but not good =P

Written by [user id=4365] on 05.10.2016 at 17:56

Written by [user id=160508] on 05.10.2016 at 17:53

Somehow I thought that you would love the art. I like that its a bit different, not really black or death metallish. Could be an indicator that the music is more unique this time.

I like the colours and the concept, I just don't think it's particularly well realised. Sort of reminds of Discouraged Ones, but not good =P

I knew that it reminded me of another cover, but I wasnt sure which one. Well, lets hope for another assault of sweet riffs from these guys.

Written by [user id=160508] on 05.10.2016 at 18:14

I knew that it reminded me of another cover, but I wasnt sure which one. Well, lets hope for another assault of sweet riffs from these guys.

I'm kinda happy with the song they released and apparently there's more variety, so still looking forward to it.

I'm basically agreeing with Marcel on this one, and I too don't entirely know what to make of this release. The change in style is pretty cool and I actually really enjoy those clean vocals. They're not cheesy and feel like a sort of epic embellishment. But the "hook" of the music has definitely been compromised, riffs aren't anywhere near as catchy as they were and there are quite a few moments that become so monotonous and repetitive that you're just stuck waiting for them to end. Truly a puzzling album, I really can't say whether I'm leaning more towards like or dislike with it

A lot of the clean vocals on this are very cringe-inducing. Surely everyone involved knew that he couldn't sing to save his life, so why not just use some of the many connections I'm sure they've made and outsource them to someone who can? Musically it's decent, but definitely lacking the intensity and unique approach of the EPs.

This is not what I expected at all, for better or worse. The album starts out well enough but I don't know how I feel about the choruses being more memorable than the riffs... "Phosphor" is an excellent track but "I Am III" loses me completely (as it did when it was first released). Then we get another amazing track and the album ends with something that strangely manages to include both the best and the worst elements of this "new" sound.

I don't mind the "cavernous/epic" clean vocals as they are used in "The Archer" (which has a great hook in the chorus, quite interesting patterns) or even "I Am III" but the singing in the last track just doesn't fit in at all. Sounds like some kind of gothic metal when he goes on about "leaving this world behind" and the outro leaves a bitter taste in my... uh, ears. Rest of the song is good though.

Good lord, Phosphor is so good that I don't mind the clean vocals of the whole album (and tbh I didnt find it to be that bad). Thank you Bölzer

Sounds pretty ridiculous at times to be honest.

Dunno, sounded boss, bombastic and percussive to me in the first listen. Vocals and uplifting sound of the album didn't bother me at all like I feared so enjoyed the fuck out of it. So yeah seems I'm no longer a naysayer on this.

Official full stream here.

Written by Auntie Sahar on 06.10.2016 at 17:37

I'm basically agreeing with Marcel on this one, and I too don't entirely know what to make of this release. The change in style is pretty cool and I actually really enjoy those clean vocals. They're not cheesy and feel like a sort of epic embellishment. But the "hook" of the music has definitely been compromised, riffs aren't anywhere near as catchy as they were and there are quite a few moments that become so monotonous and repetitive that you're just stuck waiting for them to end. Truly a puzzling album, I really can't say whether I'm leaning more towards like or dislike with it

These were my thoughts completely. I miss the hooks a lot, yet it is so oddly intriguing. Not in an "oooh this is so interesting" way, but more like an "I'm not sure what to make of this" kind of way. In the end I gave it credit for that unique reaction at least.

I'd say it's a very neatly produced record. The elements on this is transparent, brilliantly conceptualized and fomented, delivered perfectly according to their style. As Apoth put it, the change in style have worked their way and it sounds fantastic. Not disappointed to be really honest about this; I really had fun with kind of flow of music I expected.

On first listen, I Am III is definitely the worst track which is odd considering it was the first streamed. There's some pretty killer stuff here like The Archer (amazing stuff!!!), Phosphore or the title track.
I agree that the guy doesn't have the best of clean vocals, but they do sound cool sometimes (strangely at the start of I Am III).

Kinda hard to judge the album based on the previous EPS, would be unfair even without no Steppes or Wolfshook. I do prefer the production and guitar tone on the previous releases though but this clearly has a load of hard work in it.

Loving every aspect of the album, it's not what you would expect after the first EPs but it's as good and has it's sheer amount of catchy riffs.

I don't see why people complain so much about the vocals, they are great. The problem is on what he is actually singing at times, like on the chorus of the song "Hero" which hits me quite hard. Yet the same vocals on the chorus of "The Archer" are fucking glorious.
Really enjoyable album, riffs are killer as ever.

Written by Unhealer on 14.12.2016 at 18:55

I don't see why people complain so much about the vocals,...

Because those clean vocals are out of tune most of the time.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 14.12.2016 at 19:49


Because those clean vocals are out of tune most of the time.

Nah, you can tell the vocals are pretty much pitch corrected (specially on those a capella bits) so everything is in tune, what he is singing is just what he intended. If you don't like some of those clean vocals bits it's because he chose to sing a dissonant vocal line that doesn't work for you, but that's personal for every listener. And that was my critic, he chooses some really weird melodies from time to time.

There's an art to employing off-kilter vocals and to me they fail quite dramatically on this one. Aesthetically speaking he also has a really poor sounding voice, so it's bad two-fold.

I thought it was a rather terrible album. The production was off and them trying out these Urfaust vocals made it unbearable.

Im in the yay! camp on this. And I think the vocals are good stuff as its something different than most other bm. If I am honest I cant really figure out which bits of the vocals that should be bad here

Dayum, Phosphor is such a cracking tune! Riff fest + awesome Svartidaudi dude vocals.

The more I listen to this, the more I appreciate every aspect of it. Overall great album.