Dit Tranendal verlaten

If you discovered Borgazur from their latest progressive black metal outing "2P3...", prepare yourself for a shock. Borgazur's first release is nothing at all like the schizophrenic, manic blasting of "2P3..." - rather, it hearkens more back to the sound of Verdelger (one of the member's former band). But that's not saying this disc is actually comprised of skull-smashing, battle-hardened hymns of savagery like Verdelger - no, this stuff is very mediocre at best.

Eschewing the raw and live production of Verdelger and softening it to death, Borgazur here sound very dull. The music is done well enough in terms of structuring and riffs, but the production is absolutely flat. Vocals are also very typical of the genre, and lack the throat-shredding ferocity of the Verdelger days, or of Kildrith on Borgazur's newest release. Just standard riffs, standard raspy vocals, standard everything. The only thing that really stands out to me is the bizarre jazz-like piano of "Weemoed Der Oude Tijden", which sounds about as out of place on here as a Cradle of Filth fan at a Watain concert. Elements of the band's future sound rear their heads here and there, but overall, the disc just falls limp in its sound.

I'd recommend this one only for Borgazur fans who wish to explore the band's past out of curiosity.

This EP seems to be an effort to use the folkish melodies of bands like Equilibrium Finntroll and abstract them into buzzy black metal. Actually, the central themes reminded me a lot of an old band called Raventhrone (who DO know a thing or two about melody). Unfortunately, the mind(s) behind Borgazur could use some help with their compositional skills, as the backing melodies get old pretty fast. Every once in a while there's a nice epic riff, but that could be accidental.

The intro starts out with sing-songy forlorn vocals in Dutch, and expertly turns up the speed, then makes a lightspeed jump into spit-growling black metal, blastbeating drum-machine and keyboards in full effect. Then the sing-songy vocals reappear as a backdrop for a moment, and it all slows down. The heart of the sound is made up by a humming guitar and synthesizer, alternating between no more than three or four notes of wavering warm buzz. The production, rather than being crackly with static, is simply dim and slightly weak...the tones bend when sustained and the whole affair is slightly wonky. The drums are echo-y and it sounds like the drummer has loose hands. The drumming is decent but nothing like the masters of blast, and it repeats too many tired rock n roll fills. The vocals show some real potential in their all-out vitriolic moments, but the singer sounds bored much of the time. He sounds like high-speed blastbeat stuff like 1349 might suit him better.

This is an interesting first effort, but Borgazur needs to study their Burzum textbook a little harder.