Even looking at their curious cover art
and promotional photos, you can tell there's something odd about
Slagmaur. Although
traditional black metal iconography is all present and accounted for,
it's often juxtaposed with imagery far removed from the usual
mountains and forests, often depicting vocalist Aastelgrib in curious
poses such as standing by a beach, or even what appears to be
teaching a lesson. It all points to a subversion of traditional black
metal, and that's exactly what we get on Von
Rov Shelter.
After oddly titled intro track _
(that's
not a typo), which consists of the sort of foreboding strings and
theatrical spoken word that goth-prog-metallers Devil
Doll
would use, we are flung into the pounding groove metal beats and
discordant riffs of first song proper Drako
Gigant.
Although it could perhaps be compared to Deathspell
Omega's slower
moments, the sound of Von
Rov Shelter
is somehow unique. Perhaps it's the odd production which manages to
be every bit as cold as classic 90s black metal, without sounding
anything like it in any way. The riffs are deliberately muddy and
unrefined, often intertwined with throbbing indistinct background
noise (just check the end of Fantom
Eks Speriment).
The drums pound away insistently, sucked dry of any warmth to create
an almost industrial feel. And yet, there's no display of outright
weirdness anywhere on Von
Rov Shelter.
Instead, there's a general sense of unease throughout, the feeling
that all is not well. Lange
Knivers Natt
breaks down at the end into a deathmarch drum beat and low, sinister
chanting, and the effect is nothing less than menacing.
But
although Von Rov
Shelter
looks great on paper, and the band have bags of atmosphere, but as a
listening experience it doesn't quite work. It's probably the fact
that all the songs sound pretty much the same, and it's only flashes
of variety such as the orchestration on Klokker
Tramp
that stop it from being near-identical all the way through. The
formula of thudding industrial drumming and wonky-sounding riffs is a
good one, but Slagmaur
seem
too content to rest on their laurels and let their formula do the
work for them, rather than attempting to write songs, and at times
you'll swear you've heard the riffs in previous songs. Weirdly, the
band have a knack for writing outros, of all things, every track
ending on a fine note. But they seem to use the same techniques in
getting there, and the constant mid-paced pounding creates the
feeling that the songs never quite kick into any distinct gear that
separates them from the others. And before you know it final track
Ramaskrik has
drawn to a close, and you're really left with no sense of
satisfaction. It's certainly not a bad album, but there's really very
little of merit outside the band's sense of atmosphere. There's
potential here, of course, but only if Slagmaur
bother
to write actual songs and add somewhat to their bag of tricks. And
for a band on their third album, that's really something they should
have done some time ago. If you're really, really
into atmospheric, faintly industrial black metal (and let's face it,
there's a lot about, though none quite like Slagmaur)
this is probably worth ago, but for the majority it'll just be too
one-note.
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