Elffor – From The Throne Of Hate
Northern Silence Productions – NSP 075 - 28 November 2008
By Simon Brand
A quick glance at the track-list for The Thrones Of Hate may cause a potential listener to write Elffor off as a pretty generic black metal band. Featuring song-names such as 'Grimmest Winternights' and 'The Essence Of Hate', the image of a fast-paced, tremolo picking-fest riddled with blast-beats is quickly conjured. This perhaps only strengthens the effect of the first track and, indeed, the whole of the release.
Elffor play a very unique style of atmospheric black metal, rife with medieval influence. The music is very synth-heavy, with the tone switching between a generic keyboard sound and ones resembling various woodwind and bowed-string instruments. The keyboards are probably the highlight of this album, creating a very dark, ancient atmosphere and played with an incredibly effective sense of melody rare in most black metal acts. Some of these melodies are stated and then return later in the album to be developed in different ways, making it a very rewarding experience to listen to the whole release in one sitting.
Guitars are rather sparse compared to most black metal bands, but are used effectively to contribute to the atmosphere, changing between an ambient tremolo picking and medieval styled acoustic playing depending on the desired effect.
I was very impressed with the drums on this release, blast-beats are few and far between, but when they are utilised, they are tastefully mixed, placed further down than is the norm so they don't dominate, but instead bestow an underlying rhythm for the synths to play off of.
Coming in at just over an hour in length including two bonus tracks, Elffor set a real challenge to remain fresh throughout the release, and through the usage of varying dynamics, intelligent song and album composition, calculating usage of sampling and an inspired melodic stance, the album holds the audience to a very engaging listen for the whole duration. Highly recommended for fans of the genre, and for listeners interested to see where else black metal can be taken stylistically.
Official Elffor Website
Official Elffor Myspace
Official Northern Silence Website
Northern Silence Productions – NSP 075 - 28 November 2008
By Simon Brand
A quick glance at the track-list for The Thrones Of Hate may cause a potential listener to write Elffor off as a pretty generic black metal band. Featuring song-names such as 'Grimmest Winternights' and 'The Essence Of Hate', the image of a fast-paced, tremolo picking-fest riddled with blast-beats is quickly conjured. This perhaps only strengthens the effect of the first track and, indeed, the whole of the release.
Elffor play a very unique style of atmospheric black metal, rife with medieval influence. The music is very synth-heavy, with the tone switching between a generic keyboard sound and ones resembling various woodwind and bowed-string instruments. The keyboards are probably the highlight of this album, creating a very dark, ancient atmosphere and played with an incredibly effective sense of melody rare in most black metal acts. Some of these melodies are stated and then return later in the album to be developed in different ways, making it a very rewarding experience to listen to the whole release in one sitting.
Guitars are rather sparse compared to most black metal bands, but are used effectively to contribute to the atmosphere, changing between an ambient tremolo picking and medieval styled acoustic playing depending on the desired effect.
I was very impressed with the drums on this release, blast-beats are few and far between, but when they are utilised, they are tastefully mixed, placed further down than is the norm so they don't dominate, but instead bestow an underlying rhythm for the synths to play off of.
Coming in at just over an hour in length including two bonus tracks, Elffor set a real challenge to remain fresh throughout the release, and through the usage of varying dynamics, intelligent song and album composition, calculating usage of sampling and an inspired melodic stance, the album holds the audience to a very engaging listen for the whole duration. Highly recommended for fans of the genre, and for listeners interested to see where else black metal can be taken stylistically.
Official Elffor Website
Official Elffor Myspace
Official Northern Silence Website
