RH-02

Alright, now we're talking. RH-01 was a pretty inconsequential start for Rhinocervs. Shitty production, unmemorable riffs - it just wan't that good. With RH-02 (yes, this will be how they title all their releases), the boys start coming into their own. While it still doesn't have shit on their best work, RH-02 is legitimately good and shows a monumental improvement in the riffs.

The riffs on RH-01 were busy, jagged and ultimately unmemorable. They step up their game here. The riffs are definitely closer to second wave (hearing Darkthrone vibes for sure), but this is far from an ape the classics and call it a day affair. Perhaps the biggest shift is the injection of melody into their riffs. The riffs are melodic in the Finnish sense - still quite grimy patently unsugary and if anything add a sense of lurking menace to the music. The melodic riffs especially shine through as excellent on the final song. Another really neat thing they do with their riffs occasionally end them on a quasi-dissonant high note. Cool shit.

RH-02 has a leg up on its predecessor in every fathomable way. You know how the drumming was pretty lame on the first demo? Not so here. While the quality of the drumming has improved, especially in the blasts, it's the production that makes all the difference (again, I'm reviewing from the remastered comp of the first two demos, but you can still tell a MAJOR difference between the two demos in production quality). You can actually hear the snare now while he's blasting! The cymbals no longer overpower the rest of the drums. The bass is no longer a distracting over-loud rumble and sits just right in the mix to help beef up the guitars but not overpower them. Most importantly for the production, it allows some atmosphere to shine through from the fuzz-drenched guitars.

Rhinocervs would go on to outdo this in leaps and bounds, but RH-02 shows them coming into their own and starting to find their sound. This isn't the one to start with, but it's still a worthwhile listen.

Now this is where it's at. RH-01 was decent in a bubble devoid of context, but if you're aware of what Rhinocervs is capable of at their best, then it may as well have been a flop. This is a much stronger step in the right direction, and I like to think of this as the "official" version of RH-01. It's easy to draw parallels between the two tapes: they each have four tracks with similar track lengths, including an instrumental fourth track which does something pretty interesting, and they were released and (presumably) written and recorded in the same year, so they feel pretty similar in those regards. This is just immensely better in nearly every regard.

So like the last tape, the production is goofy on RH-02, but I think it works here. The snare is turned up a lot, giving definition to the blast beats. The guitars are still shrill and thin, but this time there's a lot more melody and the tone is extremely fuzzy and razor-sharp like a rawer DSBM band. The bass is still pretty thick, but it feels more controlled with less wanton boinging. The vocals are mixed better into the music, and A. brings a much more impassioned performance to the table than the previous release. The overall impression is much more cohesive; unlike the last tape, this feels like an album and not a rehearsal session that was hastily polished up and released. The riffs are just plain better this time around too, I think. Nothing from the first tape ever gets stuck in my head, but this release is full of high-caliber soaring jangle riffs and morose, vaguely Finnish melodies that you can hum along to, all the while further fleshing out the nature vibes. The first track is a good enough example; it bursts out of the gate with a furious, violent, full-speed-ahead riff and trades it off with this other amazing riff that sounds like a hellish tornado, expanding and contracting as it develops. But I actually think my favorite from the release might be the instrumental final track, barely clocking in at two minutes, which actually sounds like it could've been released by Jewicide with its insanely catchy, punky ice cream truck jingles masquerading as black metal riffs.

This is a nice evolutionary touchpoint for Rhinocervs, aside from being a good release in its own right. You can start to see the lead work developing into really cool licks (see the romantic, mournful lead about two-thirds into the second track, one of my favorite moments from early Rhinocervs); the music starts to become more than the sum of its parts; and the distinctive atmosphere generated here is the first sign of the magic that was to follow. If you want to truly be wowed by Rhinocervs and follow their discography throughout their rise to glory, this is the best place to start for dramatic effect.