Sometimes appearances can be very deceiving. Ever hired a female stripper for a stag do and only when she gets down to her birthday suit do you discover it’s really a man? Never happened to me either, but sure you’d feel rather cheated. I stuck this album on the stereo without initially reading much into their philosophy and based on that single listen decided it was worth a genuine shot. This Ukrainian duo sure look like grim and frostbitten panda-faced ghouls who by night skulk about in the forest and prowl around graveyards looking to defile corpses for kicks, while by day they are very nice boys who help mother out around the house. So then, I’m taken somewhat aback when I flick through the booklet and in big, gold lettering read the words ‘We want thank [sic] to our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life and salvation.’
This certainly raises some doubt, and as the opening track ‘Rest’ builds up with some ravenous and demonic rasps as well as some furious blasting on the drumkit, I just have trouble believing this music is for real. This is actually pretty damned competent stuff; it’s not entirely original and they aren’t breaking any barriers as such although that doesn’t make a bad release. I especially like the paganic vibe on ‘Tomorrow’ which has some great clean vocals that have an epic style to them that reminds me of Moonsorrow. There is something truly haunting about this number and with its slow, creepy riffs and atmospheric keyboards this all seems far more evil spirit than holy spirit and it’s quite easy to forget at this point that we are listening to the works of any pure-of-heart godbotherers.
There are some really nice touches to this album with crashes of thunder and the clanging on ‘Shhhhhhh…’ that brings the album to a close also sounds rather sinister. I am really in two minds over the keyboards as in places they work well to create an eerie atmosphere while in other areas such as on ‘Crucified’ I do find them to sound rather naff and detract from the main focus of the music. Otherwise this track sounds incredibly harsh and malicious, with hellish vocals and a mean swagger. The callous, scything guitars give the track a real air of menace and make this another strong contender and shows a more standard black metal tone.
Overall this is a perfectly competent album, though it’s really hard to take seriously when you know they are batting for team Jesus. Basically other than to mock those of us who lurk on the side of evil, or perhaps to lure some of our weaker kind into drinking holy water then I cannot understand their motives for playing this kind of metal. Naturally this will not be a big hit with the tr00 black metal clan, but if you’re the open minded type that doesn’t mind your corpsepaint melting under a halo, then this is certainly worth getting hold of.
http://www.myspace.com/usynligtumaltua
