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Zoroaster and Arckanum…

Zoroaster - s/tThis one practically writes itself. Zoroaster hails from Atlanta, GA and this self-titled EP on Battle Kommand Records unloads four tracks (plus one quick unlisted live bonus track) of monolithic doom in just past the half-hour mark. Think slow, sludgy riffing; deep, snarling vocals; a pounding, pulsing rhythm section; and tracks that average around eight minutes apiece—recorded (to tape, thank you very much) in 48 hours, mixed in 24 hours more. Is it anything new? I wouldn't particularly say so, no. But they do tend to even things out between those eerie kinds of consistently crushing/droning walls of distortion and a subtly more 70's influenced undercurrent of wailing guitar textures and not-quite-rocked-out swagger to some of the riffs, so... it's not just the same thing over and over again for 30 minutes. But at the same time, I think most anyone cranking these tunes would agree that this is pretty textbook stuff—granted that seems to be how many people like it when it comes to this kind of thing, and when it's done right I tend to agree. And yes, of course I feel that Zoroaster is damn sure doing it right. Doom on...

Zoroaster "Defile" (excerpt)

Now make the grab and trample your enemies under hoof:

Battle Kommand Records
Relapse Records

Arckanum - TrulenHere's yet another Carnal Records release from the longstanding Swedish black metal act Arckanum—this time a CD re-release of the band's 1994 demo, "Trulen". This was Arckanum's second demo, and fewer than 700 copies of the original cassette exist. The material was recorded on a 4-track over the course of about a month by sole member Shamaatae, who constructed all of the lyrics for these tracks in ancient Swedish. Considering both the circumstances and the genre at hand, the sound quality is of course a little harsh on the ears, but it's surprisingly listenable for its age, and I can actually appreciate and enjoy the bulk of this material for what it is—which is basically raw, stripped down, primal black metal with no frills. There are a couple of ambient intros/interludes that are actually quite well handled, but other than that it's generally a fast and rugged attack with vocals that usually stick with patented snarls or occasional wails. There are definitely enough variations in tempo to keep things interesting, though it's worth noting that "Trulen" was quite a massive demo! This fucker contains 15 tracks plus three unreleased versions of some of the demo songs that were recorded a few months prior to the final product—totaling a whopping 18 tracks in nearly an hour's time! The disc comes with a simple black and white layout containing some explanatory text and the types of illustrations and crude symbols seen on past releases from the project, but I have to admit that I really dig the look and overall visual aesthetic of a lot of Arckanum's work.

Arckanum "Hvila pa Tronan Min"
Arckanum "Bærghet"

Completists and diehards, pick one up for yourselves:

@ Full Moon Productions

Comments

  1. I am digging the Zoroaster stuff, what are some more bands like this?

    7.27.2006 | By Anonymous

  2. yes i dig Zoroaster too, solid stuff… Catacombs and Womb/Disciples of Mockery are very good too.

    Arckanum vocals are awesome, as always… i think they played Baerghet way better in the demo than in Fran Marder.

    7.28.2006 | By Anonymous

  3. Zoroaster is giving me a kind of Graves at Sea vibe, which is very good. Nothing like doom when you need it.

    7.28.2006 | By Fergus

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