I can't decide whether this is Blackened Thrash Metal, or Thrashy Black Metal. Either way its a nice old school sound with some Symphonic and (dare I say) Power Metal vibes permeating this little promo from the Netherlands based Irmin. From their promotional material included with the CD it is apparent that Irmin are very picky about what they put out - they recorded a full length album in 2006 and decided not to release it because they were “Disappointed with the sound of the album” so at least I know this won't be something that sounds like it was recorded through the speakers on a laptop out of some notion that sounding like white noise is the pinnacle of brutality. What we get instead is a well produced slice of a band trying to think outside of the Black Metal box.
The disc opens with 'Zwarte Tedering', which is pretty much a straight Black Metal track with some nice guitar solos thrown in for good measure – it is a little sloppy in places, but it has a very organic feel and is probably a good live track. 'Dance of Fire' has a nice Merciful Fate gleam to it with vocalist Attila pushing his voice as high as it will go without breaking. Track three ' Rise of Irmin' is the most overtly symphonically tinged track on the release sounding at times not unlike Cradle of Filth's earliest albums, and it’s also the best display of their song writing abilities and performance on the CD. Track four is a rather funky bass solo that you wait to crash into a fast thrashy number but instead we're treated to the distortion being turned on and nothing more. On the whole it would have better been left off or at least used sparingly as a short intro. 'The Dark Lord' makes the mistake of opening and closing with a sample of Darth Vader which only causes the puzzled raising of a single eyebrow – the song itself is very good, and again shows that these guys are great song writers.
On the whole it is an interesting promo that shows a band evolving into its own sound, but with the band currently in the studio trying to re-record their 2006 album, it is evident that they need to sharpen their focus if they're going to make any waves when they finally release.
http://www.irmin.nu
http://www.myspace.com/irminlegion
