The rather clumsily named Undeathronable doesn’t sound any easier to say even I tried to pronounce it in the bands native accent, namely French. Also their CD kindly has all the song titles as mirror images as this duo appears not to like anyone apart from themselves. Their claim of playing superior black metal is downright bold and almost elitist but I’ll forgive them as this album is furiously executed and sounds like it was recorded in Satan’s basement.
An album that begins with no intro makes a welcome change as this demonic pair unleash a cacophonous racket of scathing black metal that has a mechanical blast feel similar to Aborym. The band quickly marks out its territory on the opener by proclaiming it to be an “Undeathronable Superior Black Metal Hymn” (the songs also have a subtitle too). This track is relatively short compared to the monsters that appear after starting with “The Hateful Torment” and a familiar classical piece is revealed that is swept aside by blasting snare which has a drum machine like quality which could actually be machine based rather than being played by the band properly. There is a barrage like quality to their music though there are plenty of twists in each song with drops in pace and some decent melodic breaks and the inclusion of some synths that close many of the songs wasn’t too offensive.
The length of the songs brings out an epic stature but with sufficient variety to keep the listener engaged. The bands vehemence on the world is obvious through their song titles being anarchic, evil and anti-everything. “Erase The Past” has some similarities to Black Lodge (another French black metal act) where an industrial vibe runs through the song due to the drum sound. As with most purist black metal the bass is very low but not totally devoid of impact as this song takes on a frenzied possessed like feel that reminded me of Abruptum’s bizarre style. Underneath the chaos there are good riffs that are as savage as they come in black metal. The vocals have an Immortal croaky style from the “Blizzard Beasts” era but are suitably vehement and spat out with ferocity.
There are two immense songs clocking at nearly ten minutes each on this album and begin with “Dusk of Humanity” which has an explosive blast that is a tad more organised. The drops in pace work well when counterbalanced with the tornado blasts as my influenceometer shifted to early DHG (Dodheimsgard) due to the repetitive mechanics though the riffing is pure Dissection to these ears. There are loads of nuances that pop up out of nowhere such as death metal double bass that comes and goes at free will. There is a genuine hostility in this music which continues on “Dawn Of Armageddon” and boasts absolutely no finesse whatsoever until the momentary slowing of pace. The blasts are never far away and are used to great effect as the song creates a beastly anarchic feel. After seven minute of being battered to oblivion the song reveals a killer riff that takes the song a notch up into inexorable rabidity. The song finishes with a countdown that obviously ends at a repeating 6, 6, 6 and as cheesy as that may be it works in this song.
A shorter instrumental interlude appears called “Insomnium Suspiria Infernum” and usually I would ignore these bits but here it is weirdly out of tune with croaking vocals that makes it just plain bizarre. Their closing song needs special mention due to the fact it is called “Black Metal Anthems” and is an outpouring of purist and elitist black metal propaganda with suitable lyrics to match such as ‘Warpaint and spikes, No Keyboards Black Metal, No Female Vocals, “No Theatrical Black Metal’, you get the idea. To add to the authenticity and make it as satanic as possible this album review is 666 words long without the link, my name and album information.
http://www.myspace.com/undeathronable
