Ryan Èvn-a

Well, well, this took me totally by surprise.

More or less ten years ago, when the whole LLN fad took over underground black metal, I got mildly interested for a little while, before deciding that it was a social, rather than musical, phenomenon. Now I only remember Vlad Tepes and Belkètre as the leading bands, who failed to interest me at all; Brenoritvrezorkre (wow, I remember the name!) as the band that I considered the best of the bunch for some reason; Susvourtre as the pervert ones; and the one beginning with 'V' (I can't be bothered to check the name) as the awful violin-based pseudo-ambient project. Oh, and Mütiilation – the overrated one. There was also some recorded activity involving a rat and microphone insertion that I reviewed on MA at some point (rating: 0%) but the review got deleted when the project turned out to be something else than it seemed to be, or whatever.

Now browsing through MA, I found out that some of these guys are active again (who isn’t nowadays?), and Belkètre has a new album out. Sheer curiosity took over, I gave it a listen, and guess what? Well, the album is quite incredible.

First of all, they learned to play their instruments. The musicianship is still far from perfect, but for all intents and purposes, it's totally adequate. The production is still raw, but it's a wholly different rawness that what LLN are known for. The album sounds more akin to early Profanatica, underproduced, yes, but clear and organic. Interestingly, the mix/panning is rather unique (old-school) as we hear most of the bass on the right and most of the guitars on the left. So far, nothing exceptional. Why is the album incredible, then? Because it's unlike anything else in the genre and the fresh ideas it brings to the table are surprisingly good.

First of all, much of the music has a unique melodic quality brought by tremolo picked single-string motives. The melodies and the excellent solos (sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between a solo and a riff here) evoke feelings that I would liken to, say, Wolves in the Throne Room or similar bands, but the general feeling is much colder. Also, there are note repetitions in unexpected places that give the music an alluring, if slightly demented, vibe. Still, the said melodies are quite beautiful and very effective. There are also some punkish moments that I associate with Vlad Tepes (if I remember correctly) and up-front tortured vocals, also bringing to mind old LLN. What is important, these moments work amazingly well with the aforementioned melodic ones, which with the addition of instrumentals that remind me of the untitled track from “Dimensional Bleedthrough” by Krallice create a paradoxically coherent album.

I could pick some negatives as well, such as the sometimes overbearing presence of vocals and some uninspired moments throughout, but this has more to do with my personal preferences than with the quality of the album.

In conclusion, THIS is the long overdue moment when LLN are actually innovative and relevant. Whether anyone would notice is another thing – I suspect that the inept recordings and inane teenage babblings of the mid-90's might have been exactly what the public wanted, and still does, so I'm not holding my breath. In any case, give it a listen both for a breath of fresh air in BM and to see that given time, people CAN learn.