Andeis are made from a different cloth than many of their underground Lusitanian brethren. At least I assume Andeis are from Portugal, as they are trying to keep things mysterious. Mystery is Andeis main shtick. They revel in it and build their whole image around it. If only music was able to catch up …

While many other Portuguese acts I heard recently are bestial and raging, Andeis elevate primitivism with pride. Whether you think their primitivism is kvlt or Emperor’s New Clothes (as in Hans Christian Andersen famous tale) would be in the eye of the beholder. Menin daur attempts to get the enigma going with some synthetic cold winds, while Skalkos blindons nahts plunges into things thrashy, but so lo-fi, everything blends together and becomes unintelligible. The grey noise and hissing which passes for vocals (lyrics are supposed to be in ancient Gothic language but you would never know these are human words anyway) is where Skalkos blindons nahts goes. Dirty chaos reigns on Hailag leik, but if you strain really really hard there are hints of 1-2 note melodies on Skalkos blindons nahts and Hailag leik. One of the Andeis purveyors, Verwoesting, plays the drums and is responsible for songwriting, so we can thank him for the melody I suppose. Andilausa aƕa azgons stares into comic vastness from the ledge of a single note tremolo, The Black Oath is thrashing like Skalkos blindons nahts only vocals are now vomitous instead of hissing and Wintrus hailagaizos aggwiþos introduces some unnatural rhythms, ebbing synth and some metallic clanging amidst the total cacophony.

A few melodic hints in Skalkos blindons nahts and Hailag leik as well as symphonic piece Skauns dauþus which actually sounds like music save Servants of the Cold Night from becoming a total mess, but, sadly, I found it rather unlistenable. Thankfully the album is short, so you don’t have to suffer long. And as my record shows, this is not my first ever black metal album. Unfortunately you can’t claim stripped down primitivism be a substitute for any sort of aural satisfaction. The cover art looks nice though.