North - Na Polach Bitew
Pagan
2006
Not only does the cover of Na Polach Bitew recall Graveland's Creed of Iron, Rob Darken contributed artwork to the release. Add the song title "Symbol of the Sun," as well as the fact that North appears on the upcoming Eastern Hammer split with Graveland and Nokturnal Mortum, and my NSBM alarm bells are ringing double-time.
Then again, I can't read the Polish lyrics, and pagan doesn't necessarily equal NS. So, until I see a translation of the lyrics, I'll comment solely on the music. North plays "pagan war metal" with a black metal framework. The seven tracks here are somewhat similar, with plentiful blasting, melodic tremolo picking, assertive growls and rasps, and an old-school Bathory feel. The production preserves rawness while retaining clarity, especially in the low end.
While the music would make a great soundtrack for battle, I really wish I understood the lyrics. I don't know if I should be fighting alongside or against these guys, or simply observing from afar. Every dollar/euro spent is a political decision, and I don't believe in uninformed political decisions. Thus, I won't recommend for or against this album. The music is good, and I'll leave it at that.
You can find this album at Pagan and Moribund.
Labels: black metal, clee, poland
3 Comments:
Lately the question isn't which polish black metal bands are dumbnazi, but which are the ones that aren't.
Your NSBM alarm bell is ringing well beyond double-time and straight into blastbeat territory.
It's an interesting dynamic, isn't it? Maybe black metal is predicated on Satanism - but as Rob Darken points out, under the Third Reich, the Satanists would have ended up in the oven. So questions of "what are you fighting for and why" arise...
Under the Third Reich black metallers would have ended up in the ovens, and polish people especially weren't exactly the nazi's favourites anyway. So double strikes there.
But Rob Darken - as you read in that decibel article - distances himself from the 'nazi revival' side of NSBM and more into the paganistic old-times-worshipping side. It's a pretty flimsy distinction but at least he's trying to cover his ass just a bit.
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