Torture Chain - Humbling Isolation Terror (2008)

"Humbling Isolation Terror" consists of 3 great compositions filled with aggression, some melody and spectral atmospheres, in which music and emotion interweave overwhelmingly. This band does an exceptional job at creating fast paced, 2nd generation Black Metal experiences while adding hints of modern Raw Black Metal to the already tasty recipe. All 3 tracks are garbled with blast beats and completely restless guitars leaving you very little time to breathe before the next onslaught tears your pansy ass ear drums apart. The vocalist bleeds it all out with his trademark scare-the-shit-out-of-your-parents gargling rasp, which fits very well in with the music and adds to the general mood." - The Funeral Stench


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Harassor - Harassor

Genre – Raw Black Metal / Hardcore Punk

Country – U.S.A.

So GRIM OBSCURE and KVLT, that there isn't an album cover for Harassor, instead there is this

Remember Lord Foul ? A supposed "joke project" by Roach, the guitarist/vocalist for the old underground grindcore band, Son of Dog, the funny part was Kanwulf (Nargaroth) actually covered a song called "I Burn For You" in his Black Metal ist Krieg album from Lord Foul’s Killing, Raping, Burning demo.

Harassor is the project of Roach from Lord Foul along with Pete Majors and Sandor GF, so do we expect another joke over here ? No not at all or wait, Yes! A song titled She Who Makes Dogs Shiver makes you feel that this is where Lord Foul left off and Harassor picked it, but this is rather upto you how you take it, something very original and is a treat especially if you are game for some Raw Aggressive Music.

Talking about the music, it is something in between raw black metal and hardcore punk, the riffs are catchy and the production isn’t too muddy neither clean, the vocals aren’t your trademark Black Metal vocals but the vocalist maintains a raspy sound which goes very well with the music, the drumming is done exceptionally well , especially when you play Raw Black Metal, the drum production in some cases are bound to be sloppy but it is done pretty well over here, right from the intro riff in Marching Abomination to various chaotic and noisy passages this album lives upto my expectations and please don’t let the Hardcore Punk tag bother you, just get it.

Leech

Vordr - I (2004)

When listening to Vordr, you'd have a hard time believing that they were formed in 2003. These Finns play raw-as-fuck punk-ish old school black metal akin to Von, Darkthrone or, most obviously, Ild-fucking-jarn.

The production manages to keep each instrument discernable, while having an overall ancient, cavernous rawness. Composition-wise, it consists mostly of short (around 2 minutes) tracks, with the odd 4-5 miuntes tracks that are mid-paced, Burzum-inspired numbers. These short lengths work to the album's advantage, as no song overstays it's welcome.

The riffs are fucking simplistic and have that great, evil second-wave fuzz, but they never become too repetitive or tiring. Even though you may not be able to tell most of the songs apart, variety isn't a stranger here, especially if you know a thing or two about early '90s Norwegian Black Metal. The drumming is equally simplistic and Burzum-ish. Double bass and blast beats are lacking, though the drummer knows when to pick up the pace in a punk-ish manner.

So, it has the raw black metal aesthethics nailed, but what about the spirit? Well, Vordr sport a kind of Ildjarn-like nature-admiring misanthropy, wishing nothing but death for modern man and all of his contraptions. With schizoid, "Aske"-ish screams to support it! This minimalist, hateful, sylvan theme permeates the album through and through, from the cold, isolated artwork down to the song titles, such as "Rhythm Of The Storms" or "Fertile Human Waste". All in all, I guess I can imagine these guys living in a cabin somewhere in the woods, splitting logs with nothing but their unadultered distaste for humankind, wearing lumberjack shirts, sitting on their porch with a couple of beers, blunts, and hand-made crossbows on their laps, to protect their property from intruders. They're the kind of manly men that hunt deer by repeatedly bludgeoning them to death with their erect phalluses, while humming "Forest Poetry" and mentally sketching a couple more paragraphs for their "Unabomber"-like manifestos. And that's always something welcome!

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-Radu