Nargaroth - Jahreszeiten (2009)

This is Nargaroth's 6th full-length, following Semper Fidelis which was released in 2007. My former experiences with this band only includes Black Metal Ist Krieg, which I thought was a quite decent album, but not much more than so. This album is based on the seasons of the year and the songs reflects the seasons mood. Logically they are named (translated from german) Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The first track is just a three-minute german spoken-word intro and then it kicks off with Spring (Frühling) which is a real surprise for people who are used to Nargaroth's angry, grim style since this is a song that actually is very happy and in some places it sounds almost like a football chant.
The next song, Summer (Sommer) starts with a melody that sounds quite classically-inspired and then goes into sounding more like traditional black metal, although this song isn't happy as the former, it's not really all that evil either, it nearly has a nostalgic feel in some ways.
Autumn (Herbst) goes in a more melancholic style and features some acoustic guitar which fits the mood of the season. The last season and the last song, Winter, returns to the more traditional Nargaroth-sound and starts with a more evil-sounding riff and a blastbeat in the background.

This is a experiment that could go very well if it was done in the right way but unfortunately it didn't. The biggest problem with this album is that it's insanely boring! You can't listen to a song more than five minutes without getting bored and that's a really big problem since all the songs are over ten minutes, with Autumn (Herbst) clocking in at 21:58. Like many other black metal-releases it's also very repetitive, which is a really bad combination. The repetitiveness is probably Burzum's fault since many have copied Vargs' formula over the years, though Burzum was the only band that ever did it good. This just sounds forced. Yes, the album has some really good melodies here and there but it just doesn't click with me. Also the vocals are extremely annoying and Kanwulf seems to stay on the same note the whole time.

40/100

Gehennah - King of the Sidewalk (1996)

This is the second album from Gehennah, and with titles such as Saturdaynight Blasphemer, Hellstorm and Bitch With A Bulletbelt you should know what to expect. It's bear-fuelled real traditional metal in the veins of Venom but slightly more thrashy in my opinion. No surprises really if you have heard their first album, this one has a little cleaner guitar-sound, but that's about it. Also, they took in an Elvis-cover ((You're the) Devil In Disguise) which actually fits incredibly into the album. At first, I though it was an original song and didn't notice anything special with it, they completely made it there own.

The vocals on this album sounds much like black metal-vocals so this is probably the reason why people label this stuff as thrash/black though I think it's just thrashy rock n' roll. It has a raw production which fits the album just good but sounds a bit flat compared to their first album.

Nothing more to say about this album really, but it sure is recommended!
Despite all the praise, I can't really find anything particulary bad on this album, it's an heavy metal-album, no more, no less. One of those kind of albums you put on when you drink.

60/100

Dark Angel - Darkness Descends (1986)

I'm considering this as the band's "one hit wonder", sure, the other albums had it's moments but this one is...well, at a completely different level. The first albums they released was We Have Arrived, which was a lot softer than Darkness Descends and weren't really a full-length either. They followed this album up with two albums were they went in a more technical direction. Like I said, I like their other albums, but this one is the best for sure.

The production on this one is very raw, not black metal-raw, but raw in a good way. The singer shifts between singing very dark and more falsetto-like. All fine with guitar and bass. Also the drums are very fast and it's Gene Hoglan handling them so you shouldn't be too disappointed. The album starts off with the title-track. While it has some awesome riffs I have always considered it more lyrically appealing. For example, the chorus is really, really classic stuff.

The Burning of Sodom could be my personal favourite on the album even if it would be hard to choose one. The song is probably the fastest on this record (and one of the fastest in the world) and the Don Doty's scream on the beginning of the song is not that easy to beat.Not much to say about Hunger of the Undead, but if you liked to previous songs you'll like this. A really good thrasher.

What comes next is Merciless Death which is my favorite along The Burning of Sodom. The song starts off with a creepy bass intro and then all hell breaks loose. The most vocally flipped-out song on the album. Death Is Certain (Life Is Not) is another classic but what follows is the weakest spot on the album, Black Prophecies, which is the longest song on the album and also the slowest. It’s an ok song but doesn’t live up the Dark Angel-standards, nothing which really grabs me in it. The song was a sign of what would come later in their more technical albums. But Perish in Flames ends the album in the good old way, fast and brutal!

To sum this up this stands as one of the best (if not the best) thrash albums of all time, it DEFINES thrash metal actually, so if you like bands like Slayer (Reign In Blood-era) and Morbid Saint and haven’t heard this one yet by some reason, be sure to pick it up!

95/100

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