Hammerkrieg

Five of the various Blazebirth Hall group of black metal bands are featured on this compilation: Branikald, Forest, Nitberg, Raven Dark and Rundagor. In the wake of the deaths of two original musicians associated with Blazebirth Hall, leaving one original surviving member plus a couple of others, this compilation is a timely reminder of what the bands were able to achieve in about ten years of working together. Why a few musicians wanted to create no fewer than five projects to express their music may be a puzzle to some but I hazard that differences may be mainly in the subject matter each project covered, who played what instruments in each project, and who wrote and sang the lyrics, as the style of minimalist black metal does not vary all that much with just a couple of exceptions, and in fact across this recording there is probably less variety and experimentation than on some individual Forest and Raven Dark albums I’ve heard. But this recording is perhaps intended as an introduction to the Blazebirth Hall bands for a broad BM audience outside Russia so I guess the American label that released this comp decided to stick to the straight and narrow, familiar side of BM to attract as many as listeners as possible.

It’s worth treating this comp band by band though the track listing is done in a random way. The four Branikald tracks aren’t that much alike, going from fast and militant (“Av Vinterkald”) to punky and raw yet still quite fast (“Horrid Storms”), then to a steely, martial and heroic approach (“Raven Fierce”): even the vocals on each track are very different. The fourth Branikald track is a dirge-like instrumental of guitars played balalaika or lute-style with background effects that give the music a symphonic / orchestral feel to heighten the overall somber mood. The intention is to rouse feelings of loyalty and respect for those who fall in battle and war.

The one Forest track combines aspects of the three sung Branikald songs: fast, raw, very military-sounding with harsh grim vocals. Nitberg is unfamiliar to me but the music isn’t a huge departure from the other bands here, the main things differentiating Nitberg from the others being the half-spoken vocals and the use of some industrial and other non-BM elements and effects to produce drama. The Nitberg contributions (two songs) can verge on the kitsch and campy but the minimalist nature of the black metal tends to restrain any tendencies towards melodrama and exaggerated emotions, and the music presents as quite balanced in its own way.

Raven Dark’s tracks (two songs) are different from each other so neither of them can be said to be typical of that band. “In the Opening of SIEG” is an unusual and quite bewitching instrumental with dramatic bluesy-sounding electric guitar riffs while the other RD track is very raw and neo-primitive in sound with extremely harsh sandpaper vocals. Like Raven Dark, Rundagor also has just two tracks and these feature abrasive grim vocals sounding off in a deep dungeon while pummelling inhuman rhythms and speeds dominate the music.

The selection of tracks skims the surface of what the Blazebirth Hall bands were capable of doing, especially in their early days when at least Forest and Raven Dark occasionally included all or near-instrumental ambient or improvised music pieces that could verge on being trancey and psychedelic, or which were almost experimental in the way they seemed to emphasise mood or sound or rhythm textures. The music here is very good, highly expressive and emotional, but apart from a couple of tracks and changes in vocal approaches, it can sound a bit same-ish and listeners can be forgiven for thinking the bands know just one speed: super-fast. First-time listeners may wonder why none of the bands appears to have its own distinct style of music and the ordering of the tracks may confuse people.