Light Shall Prevail / Flaskavsae

Flaskavsae and Light Shall Prevail are two Christian black metal bands who appear to share a member and who feature on this split album with four songs each. Though these guys proclaim their love of and loyalty to Jesus Christ loud and clear on the CD sleeve credits and include two psalms from the Bible, the fortunate thing perhaps for the more secular-minded among us is that no actual lyrics are printed and the singing is often very distorted and blurred to the extent that, especially with Flaskavsae, the vocals are simply just another element in the overall musical package. Since Flaskavae takes up the first half of the CD, I may as well talk about him first.

Flaskavsae's music generally reminds me very much of Njiqahdda, only less expansive (as might be expected on a split album) and not so psychedelic / ambient. This is no surprise as one of the musicians in Njiqahdda runs EEE Recordings which issued this split album and the fellow may also be a member of Light Shall Prevail. Blurry guitars play repetitive yet melodic riffs over very basic drum machine rhythms while ghost desert-wind vocals breeze about in the background. It all actually sounds sinister and can be very raw and garagey, and if I hadn't already told you about Flaskavsae's religious leanings, you might almost convince yourself that the act must be part of some secret cult. (Well, Christianity used to have a lot of secret and quite heretical medieval cults, all of which were stamped out by the Roman Catholic Church one way or another.) "Metaphysical Quest" in particular is primitive in parts with child-like bang-bang drumming and bubbling tremolo guitar while the phantom voice blows around overhead. "Petitioning the Heavens" is another very repetitive track with basic drumming that can get on your nerves sometimes but the bass riff is a genuinely dark and almost malevolent creature. The use of synth on "The Coming Endtimes" introduces a deranged, hallucinatory ambience and the track itself is a bit more complex than the rest of Flaskavsae's work with a surging, raging, molten lava presence, and some thought and effort put into varying the rhythms.

Light Shall Prevail has a more straightforward BM style with more clearly defined vocals, a clean lead guitar sound and very fast, brutal and feverish rhythms and drumbeats (again programmed). The vocals are distorted, evil-sounding and groaning, almost in the style of Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar at his deepest, and just audible enough that you can just make out some words beneath the blizzard of tinny drumbeats and the strings of guitar notes pressed closely together. The outstanding track on LSP's half of the split by a long shot is the 15-minute "... To Never Speak Again" which, in contrast to the neo-primitive BM songs, has an early blurred atmosphere and guitar-generated effects which in one instrumental passage give the effect of a giant swarm of bees. This is all in addition to the moaning voices, brittle percussion and buzzing guitars. Part of the track around the 10th minute and at the end come close to experimental music and the droning bass reminds me of some of Njiqahdda's work.

This split serves as a fair though not very remarkable introduction to the two bands: I think the cheap percussion is a real let-down and robs the bands of some much-needed aggression and robustness that would bring out the passion the musicians feel for their beliefs. In each band's section there is one track that is so much better than the others that you realise the musicians are capable of a great deal more than what appears on the recording and we have only heard a tiny bit of their potential. I think Flaskavsae comes across as a poor cousin of Njiqahdda and needs a more distinct musical identity from that act. I'd like to see LSP embrace a more experimental attitude to their music and to make more of their staccato swarming-bees vibrato guitar style as the sound has a very delirious quality.

This is a split album between two of the newer wave of unblack metal's (christian black metal - CBM, white metal, etc.) most well-known projects. I would think for those unknowing of the whole scene, this split album is a good place to start. It shows the fact that there are CBM projects that can hold their own against their secular counterparts.

Both projects display a very raw and brutal approach to black metal, but also taking a moment to stop off into more experimental territory on occasion. First up on the split is the CBM project known as Flaskavsae. Flaskavsae is most well-known for his forays into the more experimental realms of blackened metal. On this split, he is found performing a style much more akin to his first two releases. Raw, straight-up and blasting black metal that would be well fit alongside early Darkthrone, Beherit and Burzum. While his last track on the split
ventures into the more experimental realm, even then it is a bit more restricted than later offerings. The last track is a fitting end to his half of the split, it ends
it on a bizarre twisted finale.

Which then steps into the second half of the split, which is performed by Light Shall Prevail. Right off of the bat we are met with unrelenting aggression; buzzing, swarm of bees in a bucket guitars and hyper-speed drum programming. Then come in the vocals; a bizarre, anguished howl that lies somewhere in between early Burzum, Attila-era Mayhem and Wrest from Leviathan. Which speaking of Wrest, the LSP portion of the split seriously reminds me of some of Leviathan's more straight-forward material. Angry, emotional and super aggressive black metal. This trend is pretty prevalent until the end of the split, when during the last track (...To Never Speak Again) reaches out into super atmospheric territory. Weird drones, guitar effects and more blasting rage end the disc on a high note.

I also have to mention the amazing artwork. A gorgeous foldout, super glossy digipack. A seriously amazing presentation for this album. Top notch.

An amazing split that I would highly recommend to anyone who appreciates scathing black metal with flirtations on the experimental side.