V rachotu hromů

I really wanted to like this band- I loved their band photos, their website, the concept of playing aggressive black metal without being overtly misanthropic; it all seemed fairly original and impresive that they had clearly taken alot of time to generate a concept and specific atmosphere for their band. However, after what started out as a promising first minute on the first track of "V Rachotu Hromu" soon developed into a very boring and bland effort.

For one, and probably my biggest complaint, is the whole "programmed drums" controversy...although I do applaud Trollech for clearly spending alot of time and effort on their programmed drums (if you weren't listening closely you almost wouldn't be able to tell they had programmed drums), they still got on my nerves within a matter of seconds...the bass drums actually sounded pretty good and real, however, the snare and symbols were too quiet and polite-sounding, which didn't exactly match up with the aggressive double bass that was present throughout the entire album.

Something else I found irritating was how inaudible the bass was...it's one thing if a black metal band is attempting to create a "raw-sounding" album with terrible production quality for the sake of the atmosphere, but as far as this album went, the production quality wasn't too bad, as the guitars and the vocals are mixed adequately (which isn't really saying a whole lot, nothing on this album sounded THAT good). Therefore, the bass should have been mixed adequately as well, which it wasn't.

The harsh vocals, though mixed decently (although it wouldn't have hurt for them to be a little bit louder), were still pretty bland, sounding either like a less harsh Knjaz Varggoth from Nokturnal Mortum, or like a croakier Abbath from Immortal. To their credit, they do try to mix it up a bit with clean vocals from time to time, but sadly, the clean vocals just aren't very good and just make the album goofier...

Something I found particularly confusing was the mood that Trollech were trying to create on the album...the songs are played aggressively, but aren't especially mean or evil-sounding, nor are they happy and glorious, nor are they melancholic or majestic or even epic. The riffs are just kind of there, as is everything else on the album.

Like I said before, I think they might have been onto something with the first minute of the first track, but other than that, as much as I wanted to like this album, I found it boring and uninspiring, and I don’t have any of their other releases, but I’m curious as to if their sound has changed or evolved in any way since this release. Although I recommend checking out the band’s website (especially the band photos, which are pretty amusing), I really can’t recommend this album.