Mooncult

We get a lot of black metal bands that have also put a dash of dark ambient in the music, creating a creepy atmosphere that may or may not resemble nature. In my personal opinion, however, I'm not really into ambient. I find it more disorganized and unrefined, and therefore I would probably categorize it as noise. However, Verstecktengång makes it a bit more bearable for me, for they've put forth some black metal that is very eerie, but can also portray a sense of solemnness.

The production quality may be a little sub-par, but at least you can distinguish guitars from the synthesizer noise, unlike some black metal/dark ambient bands like Cold Crypt. Verstecktengång makes it very easy for us to tell the difference, and it actually makes the album, "Mooncult" easier to listen to. Much of the songs might have no lyrics, but if you're going for a nature-like vibe, I don't think you really need to. "Spirit of the Mountain" is a nine-minute track that creates a mystifying atmosphere, as if you were in the forests of a distant mountain somewhere. The guitars craft riffs that go well together with the synthesizers, punctuating that atmosphere. Both make cold, and haunting melodies that punctuate that atmosphere. In other songs, you can really feel the metal, like in "Sage von Ravenmond". In that one, the guitars are easier to hear, and there's barely any synthesizer noise to speak of. The guitars play hooks that have a very adventurous feel to them, galloping along as if it was music for a viking warrior riding on horseback.

There are instances, however, where there is a vocalist, but the sound of his voice is drowned out by everything else. You can barely hear him if at all. Those instances, however, are few, and are not really a detriment to the music itself, unless you tend to nitpick a little too much. There's also the fact that sometimes throughout the album, the drums can barely be heard. Granted they're more audible than the vocals, but the synthesizers and guitars take up much of the music. In fact, the first half of the album is mainly the ambient part. The first track, "Fort Ravenmond" doesn't even have guitars! Instead, it's got synthesizers that emulate classical music instruments and create a mystifying, nature-like flow to the sound. To me, however, since they are created by synthesizers, it sounds more like music for an old point-and-click fantasy adventure game for Windows 95 or something. It also sounds a little to sedate for me, 'cos hey, there's no guitars in here! The title track also has this; no guitars, just ambient synthesizers emulating classical music to create a quiet mood.

Then on much of the second half, we get tracks like "Fields of Eternity", another track which is almost devoid of synthesizers. It just has the guitars playing more dramatic hooks and drums playing the usual blastbeats. We also get some tracks that seem to be more black metal than anything else, right down to, of course, the production quality. "Edge of Valhalla" is a song that has those ominous chord patterns and eerie vibes that can commonly be associated with black metal, but it also has some of the dramatic hooks that are scattered throughout the rest of the album. For this reason, it isn't as mundane as you'd expect it to be. It sounds more original due to the dramatic riffs that transition back and forth between the more dark ones.

I'd have to admit, this album actually isn't too bad, at least not for me. I had some low expectations when I read that Verstecktengång was a dark ambient band as well as a black metal one, but we also get some more refined sounds that aren't just frightening and garbled noise like Cold Crypt's "Utter Contempt for Life". What we get here is real ambiance, sounds that actually put you in the environment in which it suggests. The biggest problem with me is that it gets a little too calm in some places, especially in the songs without guitars.