Guardians Inhuman

This isn't a very long album but it has a very distinctive and powerful sound and a majestic style. The guitars that open this recording are deep and steely, and have a slightly exotic, almost barbaric feel that suits the militaristic and demonic theme; I am betting that there may be Greek folk musical influences in the constant tremolo guitar-playing. The guitars also have a slight echo which magnifies their sound and gives the impression of a solid wall of riffing against which there may sometimes be a high-pitched lead guitar melody.

But the real stand-out in some ways is The One's one and only Evil Dark's vocal style which comes to fore on a number of songs like the title piece and "Thou Art None"; on "Guardian's Inhuman", Evil Dark comes over as a psychotic megalomaniac with evil laughs and echoing voices that suggest a serious case of multiple personality disorder. On all songs, the evil One speaks the lyrics rather than sing or scream them, and this technique makes him seem distant, coldly rational and all the more impersonal as a tyrant of a huge underground satanic empire commanding vast armies of demons might well be. His voice is deep with a slightly robotic sound at times and may be treated with special effects as on "Thou Art None" which adds slurpy effects to the voice. He obviously doesn't resemble anything humans would recognise at all. On "I Am The One" (yeah, he be Da Man all right!), Evil Dark adopts a sort of death metal growl which again is heavily treated so that he seems to be breathing fire and smoke every time he says something.

The rest of the album shouldn't be overlooked: the mid-paced drumming which is sometimes doomy and which is also free-flowing machine-gun thrumming when it suits, complements the guitar work well. The overall presentation is very polished and often quite subtle on songs like "Thou Art None" which has some background cymbal effects that can be missed, and the raw and sharp guitar sound shines through. You could say that in a way this raw minimalist BM album is very tasteful in that everything about it is lean and efficient and works to the same goal of presenting a might and relentless Being leading his forces against doomed humanity. All the songs have straightforward lyrics which is something of a miracle these days in much BM and two early tracks on the album, "This Means War" and "Undying", even get cut off abruptly once they have fulfilled their purpose. The outro track "Ambiance", is just that: a short repetitive little soundscape piece with cold winds blowing over defeated and dying humanity while a plaintive little keyboard melody hovers over the rotting bodies.

If even half the BM artists active today could take note of this recording and how it packs in a mighty crunchy punch in just 32 minutes, the BM scene would be much improved and a lot less bloated and mediocre than it currently is.