Artist: Armagedda
Title: I Am
Type: Album
Label: Nordviss Productions

Interesting contrast this – a couple of weeks ago, I reviewed an atmospheric acoustic record by Lonndom, a two-man outfit featuring Messrs Sandstrom and Petterson, noting its intriguing, arboreal atmospheres and gentle playing. Hot on the heels of that comes this, a collection of rare demo tracks from the duo’s past incarnation, the venomous black metal juggernaut Armagedda and in many ways, it couldn’t be more different. Sandpaper-rough recordings of searing, dungeonic black metal are the name of the game here, injected with Armagedda’s heightened sense of crepuscular melody. Graav’s trademark throaty growls are as always a joy to the ears and for those of us enamoured with Armagedda’s work (the ‘Only True Believers’ and ‘Ond Spiritism’ albums particularly), it’s exciting to hear these obscure relics get a dusting off.

The material here seems to stylistically sit between the aforementioned album which is odd as it predates them both, given that it dates from 2001-02. Nonetheless, both the ‘fist in face’ primitivism of the former and eerier ambiences of the latter are present, the distinctive churning dark melody that typifies Armagedda bleeding from the music. The murky clatter of a crusty 4-track only adds to the gravedust atmosphere of the recordings and when the spine-tingling opening riff to ‘I Am’ crawls from the speakers, there’s a thrilling echo of the early 90s excitement when this monochromatic, uncompromising style of black metal was in it’s creative heyday.

The duo have since gone on to produce worthy art with Lonndom, Volkemord, Lik and the forthcoming De Arma project – all acts which continue to highlight the creative panache of the two musicians – but the near-electric sense of darkness and ambience that permeates the Armagedda works still render them essential listening for this reviewer and the peak of their achievements thus far.

http://www.myspace.com/armageddaonline