The Harmony Between Death and Plague, Eyes of Affliction and Grace

This recording of just 4 tracks and 21 minutes in length features 2 compositions by each artist. Snowfall are up first with more of the sort of thing you’ll hear on “Forest of Eld”. This most evident in the use of those fucked up vocals, which is something between Bethlehem and Mütiilation (which is very much to my taste). In the end what I like about this is that it’s demented and old-school without trying to be any one particular thing, which is known to us as either “worship” or “rip-off”, depending on how you’re feeling on the day. But this is just raw and demented, a big “fuck off” through the speakers, which is what I like to hear.

The tracks here are a bit simpler than on the EP, the first being a fast one, the second being a slower, more depressive number, but with those nice demented vox fucking everything up over the top. Nothing nice about this band’s music. The production is very decent though with a few bits of acoustics on track 2 and some sort of movie (?) sample taken nicely into the anti-christian context.

One thing I have to say is that these songs would have a lot more impact collectively, on an album as apposed to the sushi potions offered here. A Long-Play serving of 6 tracks would do just the trick, I think, so I hope this is not too far off. The sort of malign, dark atmosphere here needs to be sustained beyond the 10-odd minutes Snowfall’s side lasts. But oh well. I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Benighted In Sodom offer a blast of speedy Black Metal supported by strobing drum machines, hissy digital guitars with zero bass and deep, harsh vocals resting somewhere between a Black Metal groan and a clean baritone. In this respect it’s quite unusual. There are a few cool calmer bits which help create a certain introspective atmosphere, which makes this not shit. I have to say I prefer what Snowfall offer here, as this stuff is a bit too repetitive and plastic-sounding (due to the digital sound). That’s not to say it’s shit, I have to reiterate.

Originally published in Procession of Black Doom zine #4