Deathiah Manifesto

The unholy meeting of the Polish Black Altar and Norwegians Vulture Lord results in a slightly brief but fairly satisfying split album of black metal in the old-school style. Each band only showcases around 10 minutes of their typical music, yet Deathiah Manifesto reaches 28 minutes as a whole due to a trio of sinister intros and outros, most notably the symphonic tumescence of ‘Usurper, Thy Name Is Death’, which ends proceedings after the Vulture Lord side. These pieces break up the fast material elsewhere a little too much, even if the vibe suits both groups well.

Expanding recently to take in a mostly new line-up alongside the ever-present Shadow, the pair of Black Altar songs featured here actually make use of other guests on guitar and drums. Very much distilling the nocturnal storms of the more melodic second wave exponents, the clear mix allows both power and nuance to emerge in the riffing choices, while Shadow’s ghoulish tones add a menacing yet easily distinguishable touch. The beautifully sonorous bass playing in ‘Nyx’ is really a treat.

Vulture Lord adopt a much looser, thrashier feel to their high-pace blackened assault, and also feature an unexpected guest on ‘Bloodstained Ritualknives’. Trondr Nefas, who played guitar with the band until his death in 2012, is heard here in a vocal capacity, and not surprisingly the song has a different feel to the other 2 tracks owing to different recording conditions and higher intensity. Otherwise, Vulture Lord share much in common with the more fun side of Aura Noir, belting through ‘Hark! The Hymns of War’ with irresistible fervour and anarchic bravado. Most persuasions of black metal follower will find something to their taste here.


Originally written for Metalegion #11 - www.metalegion.com

Poland’s Black Altar and Norway’s Vulture Lord have unleashed a diabolical split album via Odium Records, let’s get right into the chaos.

Black Altar begin the split with a haunting ambient introduction, setting a cinematic and tense mood for what lies ahead. A barrage of blasting beats and melodic riffing instantly launches us into a cascade of malicious 90s black metal that is both grandiose and also raw. Mangled vocals deliver spectral incantations to accompany the blistering instrumentals and give us a haunting sound that showcases Black Altar at their peak, delivering black metal true to the old school ways. Progressing into some devastating grooves, or emanating a bitterly cold atmosphere, there is a relative amount of diversity which all stays in the classic field but avoids becoming overly repetitive. Instead, the songwriting develops very nicely across the intro, outro and 2 “proper” songs. A definitively mysterious and eerie atmosphere permeates this entire side which is inescapable and something that will have you diving further into Black Altar’s lengthy discography, rest assured the high quality is consistent. This is definitely a masterfully crafted slice of devilish excellence that opens the split triumphantly.

Vulture Lord dive right into a Vulcano cover, bringing Brazils’ maniacal force onto this European black metal onslaught, a very welcome addition to the violent chaos of the split. The cover is performed with energy and passion, showcasing a truly epic regard for true old school extreme metal. While the first side was more focussed on atmosphere and melody, this material is ugly, malignant and bludgeoning, a perfect and healthy contrast that sees this Norwegian mob fire through 4 tracks of perdition as they revel in blasphemous carnage. Packing one hell of a punch with their percussive grooves while the searing guitars and scolding vocals ensure that piercing black metal force breaks any skull in their vicinity. This side hits like a hammer of Satanic might that shall not permit victims to escape, be a part of the mayhem or fall before the mighty Vulture Lord.

In summary, this showcases the possessing forces of mighty black metal burning brightly with 2 different bands, from different places with a very different sound unite to conjure a blasphemous opus of malignant sounds. Black Altar bring a more 90s black metal concoction while Vulture Lord utilise the more 80s black-thrash sharpness, both are excellent at their craft and both bring something evil to this record. Fans of true old school black metal worship must check this out!

Written for www.nattskog.wordpress.com