De vette cuecken

First off, let me start by saying that this album is really, really fucking weird. The production is low-to-mid grade black metal at best, they use banjos and saxophones mixed with erratic black metal, and they sing about shit like beer and how delicious food is. This might turn off some people from trying this album, and it's understandable. But these people would be missing out immensely, especially if they are fans of black metal.

The music is black metal, alright. That much can not be denied. But it's how the songs are structured and how the music is played that makes such a difference. I would refer to this music as "Avant-Garde Black Metal," however, "Experimental Black Metal" fits pretty well too. The vocals are standard mid-range harsh black metal shrieks and growls over top music that is almost raw black metal, but not quite, as the production is a bit better than many raw black metal bands. Did I mention how ridiculously erratic this music is? The music can go from fast as hell, sprinting black metal with blast beats then all of the sudden switch to a catchy-ass riff that is very slow, with jazz-like drumming mixed in. Following the catchy, slow part, it will get faster and faster until the drummer is blast beating his head off, then a saxophone segment will come into the mix, making anyone listening to the music take a double take in the direction of the music player or speaker, wondering if someone had put on a recording of John Coltrane while he was fucked up on PCP on top of a black metal album by accident. The listener will then become even more perplexed when they hear shit like banjos and mandolins coming into the mix, almost always off-tune and almost always at the weirdest time for any of the aforementioned instruments to make an appearance.

The guitars on this album are good. For black metal, they are slightly above average, as there are a good amount of fucked up, off-beat solos mixed in and some of the playing can get fairly technical. They have a very crunchy sound but it's not your classic black metal crunch, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems to be a bit lighter and just ever-so-slightly tinged with a death metal tone. The riffs are absolutely amazing and are legit some of the catchiest riffs I had ever witnessed hearing in all of my years enjoying black metal.

The drums are also a captivating part of this album. They are extremely jazzy in nature and their time beats are always off or not on time; it's very out of the ordinary. The drums are actually part of what makes this album so special, because if they were normal it wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

The bass...well the bass is how basses are usually portrayed in metal; they can sometimes be heard, and when they can be heard they're alright, but for the most part it just follows the guitar riffs and isn't really heard much. It's a shame because an equally erratic bass could have made this album even better.

As for everything else, such as the mandolin, saxophone, and banjo (as well as the interesting sounding keyboard (?)) they utilized the strange sound these instruments make absolutely perfectly. They are off-tune and are inserted into the songs at the most random times; every single one is a surprise listen once their fucked up sounds reach your ears. These unconventional instruments are what makes the weird, depraved, fucked up atmosphere of this album.

In closing, this band reminds of so much of Demilich, albeit they are black metal. The vocals aren't the weird part, though. It's the guitar riff and drumming timing, the fucked up mis-tuned unconventional instruments and haunting atmosphere that make this album, along with the extremely catchy guitar riffs. This album should be in any black metal fan's or avant-garde/experimental metal fan's collection. In my opinion, this album is an absolute classic and more people need to hear it.