Nex Perpetui Regis - 2007 - Void Worship

Out of southern Sweden comes this Black Metal horde with their third demo. Five tracks of mid-paced to fast Black Metal is what we get. Musically this reminds me of early Armagedda, earlier Darkthrone and somewhat of Craft and even a hint of Morbid in one track.

The vocals remind me mostly of Gallhammer, a less high pitched Dim of Туман as well as Mikael Nox' performance on Craft's demo.

The soundquality is as one would expect of a demo recording. The drums are in the foreground, followed by the guitars and vocals. The tracks have been recorded at different times, as the
soundquality gets clearer on the third track. The cymbals do annoy at times, though.

Stand out tracks are "Void Worship" and "Culling the Weak".

Saturday August 22 2009, by :Vragh:

Kill - 2003 - Horned Holocaust

Swedish Black Metal act Kill have, after some delays, released their first fullength album, presenting 7 tracks and 30 minutes of necro Black Metal. Treble is the first thing you notice with this recording.
The second thing you notice is the killer melodies. The last track in particular stands out from the rest. The production on this album sounds somewhat like Von and Nifelheim, and also slightly like Ulver's Nattens Madrigal, if you will.

Musicwise they remind me a bit of Craft from their Total Soul Rape era and also some Under a Funeral Moon era Darkthrone at times (and some early Bathory thrown in for good measure),
with vocals sounding mostly like a mix of Legion formerly of Marduk, and Nocturno Culto of Darkthrone. This is necro Black Metal, just the way it should be - grim, yet catchy.

Standout tracks are "Virgin Sacrificed", "The Devil" and "Fields of Devastation".

Thursday February 5 2004, by :Vragh:

Interview with Mannevond of Koldbrann 2005

Norwegian Black Metal horde Koldbrann played at the pre-Infernoconcert in Drammen, Norway. :Vragh: caught up with vocalist Mannevond after the concert for a little chat about the past, the present and the future.

:Vragh:: So what's happening with the new material?

Mannevond: What's going on with it? We're currently recording 3 new songs for two seven-inchers,
which have been known for quite some time, too long, but things take time. Everything is coming along now at any rate, we have finished the bass.. No wait! Not the bass, the drums, vocals and the guitars are done. One of them is an EP with two songs, one of which we played here tonite, "Atomvinter" [Nuclearwinter]. The other is a split-seven inch with Faustcoven, quite a good doom-black band from Norway signed to Barbarian Wrath.

:V:: Similar to Furze?

M: No, not at all. Imagine Darkthrone mixed with Pentagram, something like that, very chic.

:V:: When is the new album coming out?

M: No we dare not divulge any date this time, you know what happens when we set one, we're waiting until we've finished a couple of songs, but we're hoping it'll be out by the end of the year, I don't dare be any more specific.

:V:: There was a reprint of your first album, recently. Was that remastered or edited in any way?

M: That's right. There are no bonustracks, or anything new at all, unfortunately. The only difference is probably the addition of lyrics.

:V:: Lyrics for all tracks?

M:  No, four tracks only. For collectors it could be mentioned that the cover is slightly different. And I could mention that it'll be out on vinyl finally.

:V:: And is there anything extra on the vinyl?

M: No.

:V:: ...or nothing new there either, no.

M: But at least there will finally be a vinyl!

:V:: On the German label Northern Silence?

M: That's right. We've had a lot of offers about releasing it on vinyl, but we wanted to wait until we found a label that we would keep working with, then they could release both the CD and the vinyl, but as things go, despite everything we licensed it to a label that had previously asked to press it, so it could have been out 18 months ago on the same label.

:V:: As I understand it, you've had good reviews and an overall good response to your album?

M: It's been surprisingly good actually, we really hadn't expected it. It's pretty funny, the album is two years old and we still get reviews as it's reprinted, and it's still getting good critique, and that's
always nice.

:V:: Is the current lineup the same as on the album?

M: No. There's three of us, well we're essentially the core of the band, I guess you could say, there's been problems with bassist and second guitarist, people have come and gone, it's difficult to find people who aren't already involved in a hundred other bands, and that don't have that real feeling and dedication. But now it's working out great, we've had the same lineup for a year.

:V:: Considering sideprojects, is anyone of you involved in any sideprojects?

M: Yeah, the drummer Fordervelse has been playing a bit with Slavia, I'm not sure if you've heard of them.

:V:: Sure, he [Slavia] played on your album.

M: Yeah I've no idea what the fuck is happening there, it's all moving so slowly. He's my roommate that man.

:V:: But he's probably busy with Disiplin. [Note: Disiplin guitarist Drakul Azacain has since kicked out all other bandmembers since they weren't members of MLO.]

M: Yep. That's right. It's been slow with Slavia but he's [Fordervelse] still playing on with his things. There was talk of him playing drums on the next Vulture Lord album. Chic old-school death metal with some members from Urgehal among others. There's not much more to be said really.

:V:: You haven't been at it for long have you?

M: No we started in 2001, so four years now, three years with the old lineups.

:V:: And then an album after two years?

M: Ah yes, it's gone fast, very rapidly, maybe a little too quick.

:V:: No plans for any extensive touring?

M: Fuck no, we really have to finish recording the new album, there'sbeen far too many concerts lately, but when you get an offer, it's just really hard to say no. There's one more concert planned, in

Fredrikstad with Myrkskog, and there will be some festivals in Germany, but the rest of the time we'll spend concentrating on the new album, it's just about time.

:V:: There's an awful lot of touring in Germany among scandinavian bands it seems, I assume black metal is pretty big there...

M: Ye-ees..

:V:: ...despite them being german.

M: Oh yeah, Watain and Dissection were touring at the same time as us, we almost followed in their footsteps, every place we arrived at there were Watain stickers, it was like, OK! They were here three days ago! Fucking awesome band by the way.

:V:: To finish up, a standard question; What do you listen to?

M: Heh, well that's a lot really. Good ole black metal, DHG,  Mysticum, those types of bands. Of course it's more norse, oldschool-norse, but Sweden has a fucking copious amount of good bands now, Craft, Arckanum, Watain, I could probably ramble on for half an hour, Grand Belial's Key has to be mentioned. I listen to other genres aswell, crust like Skitsystem and similar, it's just so good. It's important for me to not limit myself within black metal, it quickly becomes boring. Like, metal and extreme-metal as a base, but there's so much else you have to catch on to.

This concludes the interview. It should be mentioned that halfway through, the proprietor of the establishment wanted to kick us out as he was closing, however, confronting him with an official look of importance and mention of interviewing, quickly shut him up, and kept him coming back for a seemingly small part of this piece. So here it is.

Also, I love germans, you're just so easy to make fun of.

-:Vragh:

Interview conducted Wednesday March 23 2005, by :Vragh:

Translated into English from the Norwegian and Swedish languages.

Craft - 2002 - Terror Propaganda

Second assault from this Swedish Black Metal horde sounds slightly more Darkthrone than their first album, but still maintains the typical Craft sound. The music is mostly mid-paced, with some faster parts in it at times. The soundquality on this album is a bit harsher and colder than their first effort, but still the production is very good, and all the instruments can be heard clearly.

As mentioned earlier I find traces of Darkthrone in their music, mixed with some Metal parts and a strange Rock n' Roll feel. The good thing about Craft is that they use a lot of odd riffing and beats
in their music, just check out the break in "Reaktor 4". Simply amazing! Pure Black Metal Groove! The drums are almost played in backbeat which is extremely refreshing, and it works perfectly. The vocals can be described as guttural Black Metal screams.

One of the grooviest Black Metal albums in a long time. The ending of the entire album is also very haunting. A very nice touch. Get this album!

Standout tracks are "The Silence Thereafter" and "Reaktor 4".

Saturday November 6 2004, by :Vragh:

Craft - 2000 - Total Soul Rape

One of the bands that were leading the new wave of Black Metal from Sweden released their incredibly evil sounding debut in 2000 via a small label, that ultimately somehow managed to fuck up rather badly, so there were not many copies of this album actually out on the market. This has however been fixed now, Selbstmord Services have remastered and unleashed this album yet again,
with a lot better soundquality, and it is indeed excellent.

This is midpaced and rather groovy Black Metal. I just can't get enough of this one. What makes this so excellent are the unusual elements in the music. Very refreshing to see a band that aren't just plagiarising old Darkthrone, although their music has many similarities, but they take the best out of Darkthrone and the likes and add their own ideas to this mix, with odd changes and strange breaks.

A full sound, excellent drumming and overall very good musicianship makes this album very much worth your while to get hold of. The vocals are very fitting to the music, strangely growled Black Metal screams. Shamaate of Arckanum has provided the outro to this album.

Standout tracks are "(Desolation) Death" and "Ultimate Satan".

Thursday May 20 2004, by :Vragh: