Flesh and the Devil

So, this is the debut album by this Swedish black metal outfit, and also their last release as they’ve switched name to Old Bones and gone for a slightly different approach. But "Flesh and the devil" is the center of my attention right now, not the band’s new name. And as soon as the title track sets in it’s obvious we’re dealing with old, old school black metal. And no, I didn’t just accidentally repeat myself and write old twice. I mean, this is back to the punkish roots of black metal; old, old school. Not the way Darkthrone does it nowadays, mixing raw-sounding black metal with some punk chords. This is really harsh metal with one leg firmly in the tombs of Norwegian black, and the other leg in the moshpit of UK hardcorepunk.

I certainly enjoyed Mordgrim’s demo "Dead world" released back in 2006, and this feels like a natural progression. The sound is better, yet still keeping the cold atmosphere and harsh rehearsal room feeling. Tempo-wise it’s almost exclusively keeping it mid, but there are some moments of a faster pace. And this calls for some of the punk touch, with a rather punkish tempo. The riffing however is clearly black metal, simple and old school, no frills, no thrills; just plain and simple old school black metal. But for the slower sections of the album they let the creativity flow a tad more freely, giving it an even colder feel, and at times a haunting aura of agony and torment. Take for instance "Spiritual cleansing", where the slow riffs and raw screams creates a overwhelming and depressing atmosphere (of course only the first 1.30 minutes, as it’s back to the in-your-face attitude afterwards).

"Flesh and the devil" sends a nice change of pace in the otherwise blast-centered genre that black metal is today. And it’s great to hear a band that’s figured out how to keep the sound raw without sucking arse. So if you’re into simple and effective black metal I can highly recommend this.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net