Relics of a Forgotten Age

Northern and Eastern Europe are well known for having some of the most extreme metal, both musically and aesthetically. This is not entirely surprising given the harsh climate and turbulent recent history of these regions, in many ways the music is a reflection of life. Black metal's second wave took hold in Scandinavia during the early part of the 1990s, and very quickly became infamous for mostly non-musical reasons. The impact of bands like Burzum, Darkthrone, and Mayhem cannot be denied though. They played a sort of extension of Bathory's first few albums and paired this music with an equally extreme and controversial aesthetic, which made for a revolution in metal. By 1993 the Scandinavian scene had influenced bands from other regions, and similar black metal scenes sprang up. Poland's black metal scene grew strong with Graveland at its helm, being directly influenced by the Norwegians in particular. Graveland's demo, In The Glare Of Burning Churches, makes more than subtle hints about where the sound is coming from.

So what does this have to do with a band from Minnesota far away from the European black metal scenes, and formed in 2011 two decades after these scenes heydays? It is important to note that this Midwest duo, Haborym Mastama plays all instruments and Vox Hibernum handles vocals, have written black metal that pays specific tribute to the 90s. One could argue that these guys fell in love with Burzum and Darkthrone and set out to play like those bands, as countless others have. Perhaps that was the intent, but I will make a different argument. Finger Of Scorn is in fact much more similar to the Polish scene of the mid 90s than it is the Norwegian scene of the early 90s. This may seem incredibly nit picky, but I find the distinction important. The influence of the Norwegian second wave is there, but it is an indirect one. The biggest influence that I can hear on "Relics Of A Forgotten Age is Graveland". This is not unusual as in many ways Minnesota could be considered the Poland of North America, most notably the harsh winter climate.

Now that I've gotten the context as I see it out of the way I can talk about Relics Of A Forgotten Age in more detail. This release is a compiles two earlier Finger Of Scorn demos, "Finger Of Scorn" and "Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes". Released by A Terre Records, this tape was only pressed 25 times(because kvlt), so you're chances of getting this seem very slim. Not to fear though, all the demos tracks can be heard here http://www.youtube.com/user/ScreamBloodyMetal/videos. The cover art is a super low res, maybe photocopied, drawing of a cemetery with some birds flying over it. A bit cliche yes, but very fitting for the music. The cassette itself just has some stickers thrown on that don't really seem to add anything. All in all very DIY and kvlt.

When you put this on your tape deck you are treated to a keyboard intro with some medieval style chanting. Before long though, you're thrown into very raw and uncompromising black metal. The first thing that hits the listener is the abrasive nature of the sound quality, even for black metal this is pretty intense and will take several repeated listens to comprehend much of anything. Once you do "get it" there is some really solid and hateful black metal to found here. Distant and tortured sounding vocals really haunt the music throughout, but rarely take the reins. The music is driven by tremolo picked guitars that have a trance like quality to them. A shriek or cymbal crash sometimes cuts through and gives sharp contrast to the guitars. Most of the songs are mid paced and ride a singular riff until it is no longer needed, there are few blast beats or thrash breaks to be found. This makes "Relics Of A Forgotten Age" very atmospheric and bleak, it evokes these emotions incredibly well.

The only major flaw with the compilation is its lop sided nature. The self titled demo which forms the first part of this release in decidedly better than the second half, "Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes". The self titled demo has better riffs, atmosphere, and overall seems put together with much more attention to detail. "Archaic Evil" and "When Cold Winds Rise(Assassins Of Winter)" are perfect examples of well executed European style black metal. The demo's specifically written intro and outro, the latter of which is a clean guitar that sound almost slightly out of tune and very unsettling is a perfect ending, give it a finite feel. While the second half seems to meander along and end at a seemingly arbitrary point. The songs from "Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes" have much less structure(most notably the title track) and suffer as a result.

"Relics Of A Forgotten Age" is far from essential. It is not groundbreaking or entirely unique, and certainly not easily accessible. That said, it is very well done and fits within the confines of it's chosen genre and scene very well. Much is made about new ideas and path forging in metal, but there is something equally admirable about doing something very well with established criteria. If you're a fan of 90s European black metal, especially the Polish scene from the middle part of that decade "Relics Of A Forgotten Age" is definitely worth a listen.