Coming from Freiberg in Germany, a place for me that will always have unholy connotations thanks to Dario Argento’s seminal Suspiria; this appears to be the fourth full length album from Unlight and a pretty good one it is at that. The band have been around since 1999 and despite recognising their logo and an album sleeve I cant profess to ever hearing them before hand but I am not complaining as sometimes a new album can make you want to dip into an artists back catalogue and see exactly what you are missing. Unlight as far as promo shots and no doubt live, look like they go for the full gambit of spikes and corpse paint and musically the theme of Satanism and apocalyptic dread bristle throughout this release.
It sounds like plug in and play as the title track starts and flails into some whiplashing guitar riffs. This is a fast treatise and nothing slow paced at all as venomous rasps from singer / guitarist Blaspherion snarl out. I am reminded a bit of Naglfar which is not bad thing, this lot have an incredibly melodic backbone about them and concentrate on the power of the riff without negating the intensity and brutality of the music in the slightest. In fact there is a bit of a blackened thrash tumult zealously flowing through this. ‘Dead All Things Will Be (Part 1) is a bit slower and has a Marduk like cadaverous feel as it broods away. It even goes into a death march, which plays over a necrotic sermon from the singer really sending a shiver down the spine before a harmonious guitar leads back into the song. ‘Sic Transit Gloria Mundi’ confuses with sounds of baby crying and goats bleating as guitar wafts over things, perhaps it’s a sacrifice to the horned one but it does actually come across as slightly daft. That tried and tested whiplashing melody follows like an old faithful friend and it will have got its hooks well and truly in by now.
It is evident that this lot are talented musicians and are serious about their approach to things; this is a clinical, well thought out listen from beginning to end and has really impressed. Everything gallops away and keeps you on your toes as well as demanding head-banging and air guitar playing, along with the complex fluid riffs. It’s also one of those albums that melody signatures keep cropping up and as it progresses recognition really wins you over. There are times when I am really reminded of Marduk such as the windmilling guitar sound on ‘Sound forth The Trumpets’ but I guess that is hardly surprising considering where the band probably took their name from. They would be a perfect support band for the Swedes to take on tour with them too. So if you like your black metal, serious, fast and designed to keep you pumped this will do the trick, but remember Unlight and Sunlight are just a moonbeam away!
http://www.unlight.org
http://www.myspace.com/unlightblackmetal
