Armagedda are back and with their new album they bring us once again an assault of Black Metal any fan of the genre would like.

To be honest with you I had only heard The Final War Approaching; which means I have missed a full length and some EPs and split albums; but if you compare Ond Spiritism with the previously mentioned album which was released in 2001 you will find some slight, yet important modifications.

The first notable change to their mid-paced Black Metal is the production which is much better than in the previously mentioned album, thing that makes the atmosphere less engulfing and dark; I would love to hear this album with the production of The Final War Approaching because I know it was an essential part of the sound I liked so much in that album. The other change is found in the guitar sound, in this album they are less crunchy and raw, plus they added some parts played with clean electric guitars which are quite a nice addition.

The Final War Approaching was an obvious Darktrhone inspired album; but in Ond Spiritism we find an Armagedda looking to find a sound of their own while maintaining themselves firmly rooted on traditional Black Metal. I really think that that is what bands should be aiming to because it’s very easy to copy a well established sound and style, anyone with decent musicianship and knowledge on a genre can do it; the real deal is to take those already established roots and create something new and interesting from them; and that is what the guys in Armagedda tried to do here; I mean this album isn’t really revolutionary but it manages to create a sound that could give way to the band to distinguish themselves from the rest of the scene.

What will happen in the future with Armagedda we don’t really know; this year the band gave the following statement: "We do not perform Black Metal anymore, we do not want to be associated with the Black Metal scene of today nor yesterday. How people see our tunes from the outside doesn’t matter, we are what we are and not what you think. We are not a Black Metal band anymore and we will never be again. Black Metal has been infected with unserious people who abuse it's (un)holy essence and that is not what we stand for. Therefore we will get as far away from this shit as possible. All is said, enough! Consider this to be 100% official." Does this mean that Armagedda are going to stop making Black Metal? I don’t but I’m quite tired of seeing bands stop their career because of the state of the scene; instead of giving attention to stupid posers by stopping to create art, they should grab their balls and show what the fuck Black Metal is really about; by doing this foolish things they only manage to look ridiculous, and that can weakens the scene.

Anyway, this is a great album any Black Metal fan would enjoy even though it wasn't as good as The Final War Approaching. Less experienced Black Metal fans have a good place to start with this album if they want to get into this band; the ones more into the raw sounding Black Metal should get The Final War Approaching.