Through Struggle to Victory

Through Struggle to Victory is the definitive compilation of the material released by Aryan Blood during the only time when Negrobutcher wasn't a fucking lazy fuck and was actually writing music instead of releasing the same old tracks in different works. So if anyone wants to dive deep into the music of this musical project this is definitely the work to listen to.

Although black metal has been with us for several decades I think that even today there are many people who are not clear how to define or differentiate between bad and good raw black metal, I feel that for many the wall of sound along with the poor productions that usually have this type of releases make it quite inaccessible to a certain type of listeners, those who will see these works as pure noise, maybe that's why there is an emerging trend where this style includes elements such as dungeon synth to make it more accessible. Aryan Blood also does this, in this compilation we find elements of the aforementioned dungeon synth or RAC music, although having a large percentage of pure raw black metal in most of the tracks. And what makes a good raw black metal different from a bad one? Well in my case the answer would be the melody, this style so noisy and loaded for me when it works best is when the background is substantiated by a more melodic cut melody, being the best and best known example of this the main riff of "Transilvanian Hunger" this for me reinforces the rawness of the rest of instruments and voices and gives depth to a music that seems to have hardly any. So does Aryan Blood do this well?

Well, the answer is sometimes, when this is best achieved is from track 8 onwards, you can appreciate how the melodies are more distinct and improved, adding dynamism and greatly improving the chaotic and noisy performance that is found in several of the first tracks on this compilation, in these early tracks there are also the songs that are purely dungeon synth ("Einklang" which is honestly very good and makes you wish there was more of this in Aryan Blood's music) and RAC music ("Unsere Fahne" which sounds laughable). But although the melodic tone progresses as the compilation advances, there is something that doesn't change, and that is Negrobutcher's aggressive style both on instruments and vocals. No doubt if there is something that transmits this music is hate, Negrobutcher may not be the best vocalist or the best playing the instruments, but he knows how to transmit in certain moments, as I have already said, the first tracks of the compilation are the weakest part, it takes a few tracks before the really interesting stuff starts to arrive, "Aryan Supremacy" and "Swastika" are the first flashes of quality thanks to their riffs and aggressive rhythm, but "Eternal Strife" and "Ancient Empire" are the high points, they not only have some of the best riffs and Negrobutcher's wildest vocal performances, but they also have a certain groovy element that makes them heavier and more remarkable to the point where you can feel the anger of each guitar picking in your own nerves. A pity that more songs don't transmit this.

Inconsistent, with flashes of quality, and a repetitive technique that manages to progress, Through Struggle to Victory is a compilation that will undoubtedly please the fans of NSBM and its "riffs" and will annoy those who are looking for a more refined and technical music or those who are against the ideas expressed in this work, not in vain Aryan Blood's music is infested with a hate that spreads with intensity and with all the possible force through the music, a work full of hate that is far from being the worst of the genre but also far from being among the best.

National socialism black metal, or NSBM for short, may be one of the most controversial music subgenres of all time. Black metal was already a messed-up genre with the inaccessible sound and the musician's "poor choices", but NSBM takes it a step further by including the infamous Nazism ideology in the music. Aryan Blood might be one of the more infamous members in the genre since not only does he use more Nazi symbols, but Negrobutcher (yes, that's his actual name) even defends the ideology. One of the albums that demonstrates his ideology is "Through Struggle to Victory".

This compilation album is based on the demos and EPs the band did in the years 1996 to 2003. These demos and EPs weren't that good to begin with from what I've heard from others, but the reason why I wanted to check it out is because Aryan Blood's albums aren't that easy to obtain, and I wasn't about to give my money to a self-admitted Nazi. So I decided to get a digital copy of the album for free instead and tried to listen to it (the keyword being "tried"). And after that listening experience, I wished for my 40 minutes back.

The album starts off with the track "Einklang", which is actually okay. It was an ambient track that included some nice-sounding synths and an atmosphere of the aftermath of a battle. This was the only good track in the entire album, and I thought I might get something good here. But then comes "Strength, Pride, Nobility". The song is very fast and chaotic, and with the distorted production and shrieking vocals, it seems like a recipe for a good black metal song. However, I never got into it because the distorted atmosphere in the song feels forced and unemotional. With something like Darkthrone's "Transilvanian Hunger", I can at least feel the emotion in Nocturno Culto's voice. Here, it feels like the artist suffers from a mix of teen angst and trying to show off to the "cool kids". It is chaotic, but there's no purpose in it.

From here, it's all downhill from here. Some of the tracks have a more hardcore punk influence like "Strength, Pride, Nobility", while others have more of a viking metal influence like "Unsere Fahne". This won't be a problem if their sounds were executed better, but the distortion doesn't work for the more punk songs, and the viking influences once again sound forced and unmeaningful. There were some songs that had too much distortion, even for black metal standards. I had a hard time distinguishing the guitar from the drums in songs like "Ortus Hominis Optimi Maximi".

And then the lyrics. Like I said earlier, there's a ton of Nazi themes in Aryan Blood's songs, and they're presented heavily in this compilation. Even without the pro-Nazi propaganda, the lyricism is still very poor. Just look at the lyrics from the song "Eternal Strife", which quotes:

Kill and destroy
For the the sake of evolution
Kill and destroy
In eternal strife

The chorus is just the artist chanting "Kill and destroy" while sounding uninspired from it. This is a problem for many of the songs here. The vocals here don't execute the lyrics to their full potential, and they end up sounding too edgy for the sake of being edgy. These lyrics were better off not being written at all.

Overall, this compilation album was a complete joke. Even without the vocalist shouting out racist lyrics and sounding bored while doing so, the instruments and production sound too poor and boring and is something I can get from other, much better BM projects. If you so happen to come across this album, or any other album from the band, I suggest you just stay away from it. It's not worth your time.

Aryan Blood is one of the few bands, that actually justify being labelled as NSBM, unlike all the viking themed bands, that left wingers just have a problem with. Everything about this project (name, titles, lyrics, cover artworks) is a straight forward dedication to the ideals of National Socialism, no beating around the bush or subtle hints to be found. If you have a problem with that fact, you should avoid this compilation.

To keep it short: the music is about 70% old school black metal and 30% RAC (the punkish style of RAC that is) with a sharp demo style sound and a hateful vibe at all times. There are no whiny anthems of fallen nordic heroes, just a clear wish to destroy and exterminate. Negrobutcher's other project "Negrobutcher" (not sure, which one is supposed to be considered his main project) may be even more hateful all in all, but Aryan Blood features a slightly more sophisticated songwriting.

If you have appreciated anything this band has done before, you can't go wrong with this compilation. The only filler track is a cover of the Hitler Youth's "Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran" without vocals - it feels out of place in terms of atmosphere, but it doesn't do too much damage in regard to the overall impression.

My biggest gripe with this album is the fact, that the song "To Build an Empire..." is not included. It is one of Aryan Blood's finest songs and there was plenty of room left on the CD. Also, the tracklist would have included 14 tracks that way...if you catch my drift. Another "missing" song would be the Absurd-cover "Der Sieg ist unser", but I can live without that. My personal favourites are the tracks taken from the split with Satanic Warmaster, while the first demo's songs may qualify as "true black metal" the most.

This man is angry. That's something you can quickly tell from the first few tracks on this compilation, consisting of all his works from 1996 to 2003. He's very, very angry, and he's going to express just that, throughout pretty much every second of every track on here. Leaving the “Einklang” introductory track and the silly-sounding, anthemic “Unsere Fahne” piece aside, every single instrument on every single recording on this release sounds as if it was being played with ultimate rage and unfiltered disgust, as if Negrobutcher (the man behind this “musical” project) was aiming to break them or make them sound as bad and as unmusical as possible on purpose.

Now, I'm usually all for freedom of expression, and I believe everyone should be allowed to express their own ideology, particularly through art, however the heck they want, yet I think there are some necessary “societal”, I shall say, limits to that. There comes a point when you're not really exercising your right to free speech anymore, but are instead just whining and yelling like a spoiled little child because you're not getting what you want from this mean, mean world.

Allow me to warn you: if you thought Vikernes' vocals were somewhat ear-piercing on some of his early tracks, you haven't heard anything yet. I don't know if it's the microphone or the recording equipment he's using, or if his (probably permanently damaged) vocal cords are capable of producing such filthy, disgusting screeches per se, but either way, the vocals are little more than laughable at best, genuinely concerning (for his own health) at worst. Again, I am not just used to heavily political music, but also to genuinely poor-quality recordings that would annoy the ears of the vast majority of the common populace, so my dislike for this release is definitely not for any of those aforementioned reasons, yet this is simply ridiculous. This is nothing like other NSBM German bands you may have heard such as Absurd. The painful atrocity presented here as a proud compilation of the band's historical output is plain bad. The production is practically non-existent. Additionally, what I'm mostly referring to when I say it's bad is that the very unfortunate mixing is particularly poorly and distastefully done, which renders the playing useless and makes it sound weak no matter how hard he's hitting the instruments. The vocals sound way too loud and overpowering, and are therefore annoying, and I don't even feel capable of rating the riffs, because they can't really even be heard. The only redeeming “quality” this album has is the predominantly short length of the 13 tracks featured on its 40 minute duration, making for an average of 3 minutes per track, more or less.

It's a shame, really. I can imagine this project having been much richer if a little bit of this man's sloppy hate or unlimited extremity had been left behind in exchange for adding some tactful quality to the music overall, as his message would've still come across, even more effectively so, and the end result would be much more appealing, ultimately fulfilling what I understand as the purpose behind this music a lot better.

I am rating this release with a symbolic score of 8, since Negrobutcher desperately aims for a big bold 88, yet we're only left with a sad, angry single digit in the end.