After a majestic opening foray which sounds extremely cinematic in its grandiosity, Italians Ars Macabra soon show their true colours by switching quickly into hyper-speed with a ballistic bombardment of riffs and drums to prove to you that they’re more than serious about their black metal, so long as it’s rapid and furious.
On the speed front alone, this would easily give any of the usual blackened war-loving suspects (Endstille and Marduk in particular) a run for their money, with rabid blasting drums, hateful bile spitting vocals, and riffs tremolo picked into a bloody, blurry mess of shredded metal and fingers. Even when they do decide to slow the tempo slightly (at the beginning of “Et Nihil” for example), there’s still the hate filled, bestial vocals and drums itching to start blasting again in the background throughout. Of course, it’s never long before they do actually kick into overdrive once again either, with the aforementioned song ending as one of the faster songs on the album!
For those who think that albums such as ‘Panzer Division Marduk’ are just plain noise, may I suggest that you steer well clear of this as you’re bound to hate it too. However, I just so happen to love the shrapnel dented look and sulphurous burning smell that my CD player gives off after playing those types of albums so this was a perfectly enjoyable listen for me. The album when taken as a whole is totally merciless and unforgiving; what more could anyone ask for? Whilst being more technical musically and a lot less primitive than the likes of Beherit or Blasphemy, this still occasionally conjures up the same hate-filled vibe that saturates their unrelenting style of sound.
“War, what is it good for?” asked Edwin Starr in his well-known song. My answer to that question? Cruel and vindictive black metal baby. ARRRRRRGHHH!!!!
http://www.arsmacabra.com/
http://www.myspace.com/arsmacabra
