De vette cuecken

To be honest I got this album through trade and I won't keep it. I've listened to it several times and I still can't really get into it, even if some parts stay in my mind. Consider this review as a warning to listeners who might be disappointed by this album, as I was myself.

The biggest problem with De Vette Cuecken is the production. Trust me, I'm very familiar with raw, dirty garage production, but here it's really bad. The guitar tone is particularly shitty, it's just your common cheap distortion blow which covers all the notes so you can't figure what's played. In fact drums and vocals dominate the mix most of the time, especially during blastbeats, so you can't hear the notes except during breaks and slow parts. The production is not only poor, it's weak and not loud. It considerately lacks power and precision (though not completely blur and messy). You have to listen to the album with headphones to hear every element.

Though fast and well-executed, the drums are boring, because they fail to accompany the guitar riffs properly. They're rather accompanied by guitar riffs. All you can hear is blastbeats, double bass, harsh vocals and some distorted guitar in the background. The vocals tend to get annoying too because of their omnipresence. The vocalist barks like a little dog or a drunk insane hobo. The vocals would be less ridiculous if they were not so loud in the mix (but I suppose the grotesque was more or less intended). The album sounds most of the time like a drummer rehearsing intense patterns and a vocalist constantly screaming over distorted riffs in the background.

Instead of being de-structured, the songs are repetitive. Lugubrum can play the same break twice in a song, and that kills the surprise effect. The riffs (when you can hear them) are dissonant, but not in the typical orthodox black metal manner. The band's playing approaches jazzy death metal, but in a definite black metal style.

I can't deny that the dirty production creates an atmosphere, but it's a kind of disturbing atmosphere. De Vette Cuecken contains ugly music. Sure, the use of a banjo is quite original and interesting. The saxophone also introduces a jazzy tone which gives the band a unique trademark. I just happen to dislike the atmosphere which results.

De Vette Cuecken sounds like intentional modern degenerate art. It makes me feel like if I was bad tripping in a sleazy restaurant with horrible lights and disgusting food in my plate. That's probably what the band wanted to evoke, but that's not the atmosphere I'm looking for when I listen to black metal.

Nevertheless, I cannot say that this is a bad album. If you're looking for weird black metal with raw production, modern atmosphere (not modern production) and jazz influences, you might like De Vette Cuecken, and even find the album great. That's why I'm rating the album 50% : I didn't like it because it's not my taste, but some might like it. If you're looking for a mix of thrashy palm-mutes, burzumesque plaintive riffs and Black Sabbath influences like the song "Gekloofd" (not on this album), stay away from De Vette Cuecken.

It seems that the band's earlier works had a more traditional black metal vibe. At the moment I'm listening to De Totem and it's far better, both composition and production-wise.