Bergraven - Till Makabert Väsen - review
Bergraven - Till Makabert Väsen - review
Tracklist
01. Drömmen Om Undergång02. Fasa
03. Asketens Enda Prydnad
04. Hunger
05. Det Andra Liket
06. Jag Lever Djävul
07. I Timmen När Allt Är Över
A review by
Lucas September 30, 2009
Opener "Drömmen Om Undergång" is mostly brooding Swedish spoken word alternated with dark riffs and howling screams. Is it just me or is the Swedish language perfect for this style of Black metal? Pär Gustafsson, sole member, sounds so evil-but-in-control with his deep, carefully articulated 'rolling' voice. His despaired screams lack a bit in power and pain, but his grand choir-esque vocals make up for that. The album continues and before we're near the end we've gone through reverbed plucking, anguished screams, more evil-fuelled riffs and more of Gustafsson's various demented antics. However - and it displeases me to say this – I still feel the music is restrained. It tries a bit too hard to come across as the music of someone mentally deranged, it just sounds a little too calculated for that. There's rarely any sense of real paralysing unpredictability as displayed on, for example, Diapsiquir's Virus STN.
What's still praise worthy about this album is the incredible range of vocal styles displayed and the ease with which all sorts of different guitar techniques are presented. Straight up riffing, intricate intermezzo's, squealing pinch harmonics, they're all aimed towards their unified goal: to show madness. But in the great variety lies the problem. Till Makabert Väsen can get too complex for it's own good, as the flow is at times greatly disturbed and certain passages sound a little too forced and fragmented.
All in all Till Makabert Väsen is a technically proficient album, which might be a little too complex for it's own good. There's still plenty to enjoy here though, but you might have to wade through the occasional odd bit. Still, a praise worthy attempt at composing, even if it is still not all it – in my mind – could have been. Until numero quattro, I presume?
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Comments
Comments:
6
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 Posts: 9726 |
Posts: 9726
By the sounds of it they're slowly improving, maybe in another 3 or 4 albums they'll hit the nail on the head then? I loved Dodsvisioner, so by the sounds of it I'll enjoy this one as well...
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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 Posts: 18614 |
Posts: 18614
I'm glad that the project seems to be improving. I like this guy's music and vocals. But yeah, I agree with the complexity being kind of a burden. It seems like it's way to much at times. But Yeah, great band imo. And I also agree with Swedish being a very good language for this kind of Black.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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 Posts: 7695 |
Posts: 7695
The name bothers me. "Bergraven"? What's a Berg-raven? Shouldn't it be Begraven?
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Posts: 18614 Written by Warman on 01.10.2009 at 18:46 I thought the same thing the first time I checked the band. 
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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Posts: 7695 Written by X-Ray Rod on 02.10.2009 at 18:57 Yeah, and the dude is Swedish, right? Maybe it's an old spelling of "begraven", I don't know.  Or is it a play on words, like both english and swedish? "Mountain Raven"? Sounds stupid.
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Posts: 18614 Written by Warman on 02.10.2009 at 19:01 Well... The list of bands that have worse names that Bergraven is really really long, so I don't care.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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