Fullmoon - United Aryan Evil

[J.]

they got girlfriends or are trying desperately

 

[Crimson Velvet]

I like this demo.

 

[MajestikMøøse]

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

 

[AsModEe]

the title of the album makes me stay at distance from it

 

[MajestikMøøse]

oh, if I die tomorrow, people are going to have so much fun rummaging through the remains of my CD collection.

edit: but not nearly as much fun as when they start to rummage through the porn collection on my hard drive

 

[M.Lehto]

Great stuff, have the vinyl and the cd.

 

[Demilich]

Great stuff, have the vinyl

Wait... its black metal and you have it on vinyl? Stop the presses!

 

[SteveO)))]

I bought this one awhile back and never really got into it. I guess I'll have to listen through it again, but I don't think that will be anytime soon (It's sitting in my room in the US)

 

[JayKeeley]

So is it really better than Deathspell Omega's "Si Monvmentvm..."???

 

[SteveO)))]

In my personal opinion....not really

But I haven't listened to it in awhile, so my feelings might have changed on it. I bought it on a recommendation from GoD

 

[J.]

So is it really better than Deathspell Omega's "Si Monvmentvm..."???

haha, that was my addition in the list of "yeah, it's average"..."yeah, it's OK"

but there is a reason it's considered a classic.

but IMO, absolutely.

 

[Thanatopsis123]

Maybe I'll upload The Pagan Mountain for any poor souls that haven't heard this.

 

[spaffe]

Maybe I'll upload The Pagan Mountain for any poor souls that haven't heard this.

 

[Thanatopsis123]

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

 

[spaffe]

Thank you good man. I think that little waving yellow man nicely illustrated my craving for polish and aryan (evil) black metal.

 

[boo berry]

this looks so silly i have to hear it

 

[Wires & Waves]

Dusk. Mountains loom all around, and they whisper to one another along the wind. There is still sunlight allowing for visibility, but it gently sinks away at the moon's command, leaking a ghostly blue into the dim sky. A wolf howls in the distance. An Aryan, Pagan army rides on horseback, silently, slowly, sword-in-hand, crossing the Jewish border. The moonlight is now too overwhelming for sound to penetrate it. Everything is muted. Lonely. Many are slain, without a word whispered, all guided by the desire to protect and serve the great Earth, to do the bidding of the moon that provides light for the warriors in the gloom. No clouds will interrupt the moon tonight. Not one man will betray his honour, every man will die for what he loves and values if necessary. Beauty does not lie in triumph, nor in battle, but in the warriors' devotion to the land, and the deeply precious essence of the moon's silver glare. The fullmoon is at one with the army, and it will not be stopped.

Having just reviewed an Ad Hominem album (if that one's not up yet, it will be soon), I now shift to the opposite end of the NSBM spectrum; the better end. This is easily among the top 10 most atmospheric recordings of all time - I can say that without a moment's hesitation. Rob Darken wrote some of it, I can't provide any fresh information on specifics, but I'll say that this is better than anything Graveland have released that isn't called "Thousand Swords", and it even rivals that masterpiece.

In the intro there is a taste of what's to come, with the haunting sound of distorted battle sounding almost like people are drowning in the cold wind - it sweeps over them like a suffocative, eerily quiet sheet. What subsequently develops is the first paragraph of this review incarnate, with a hugely disconnecting, cold ambience washing over chillingly beautiful melancholic folkish melodies. The music is generally mid-paced to slow (though the blasting is actually quite fast in places, it isn't obvious because the snare isn't as frequent), and the drumming is very even rhythmically (despite additional beats or cymbals in places) though the tempo usually changes from one phrase to the next, which is always a sure way of creating a heap of ambience when the melodies are as drawn out and hypnotic as these. The vocals are faintly croaked with fitting coldness. The real complexity, however, is in the structure. Different rhythms and harmonies melting into one another and developing upon one another without any sort of break or release from the cold. Sublimely epic and classically-based, tension is built up and resolved with a subtlety that is rarely matched in metal, and very few albums conjure such a clear and immersive experience.

The production is unusual, in particular in the guitars which are somewhat sweeping and sharp (but very hard to describe). The drums (snare in particular) are very hollow, and the bass drifts very subtley in the background. I'm fairly sure there's a set of bad mp3s circulating though, because there's no way people should be complaining that anything is inaudible - it is not. The only complaint is that a beat seems to be missed every so often, I think on the recording rather than in the actual music, but it doesn't annoy me too much.

I see this album as being the perfectly contrasting counterpart for Thousand Swords. That album mainly focused on a rousing, epic, honourable battle, with great clashes of swords and bloody Christian deaths, all inspired utterly by Pagan values. "United Aryan Evil" is a far more drawn and hypnotic piece, choosing instead to ooze its way deep into the mind via subtlety and mysticism. Yet both are thoroughly Polish in melody and essence, both are expressing the same basic values and images, both are about as epic as metal can be, and both came from the same year (and partly the same artist). Oh, and both are fucking essential. While a few albums have been colder than this, and a few more epic, none have managed so expertly to consistently be both. 95%.

*"Blood For Immortality" is one of the best black metal songs ever.

.

 

[J.]

This is easily among the top 10 most atmospheric recordings of all time

I can't speak for all recordings, but it certainly is one of the more atmospheric black metals I've ever heard.

but I'll say that this is better than anything Graveland have released that isn't called "Thousand Swords", and it even rivals that masterpiece.

While I prefer Following the Voice of Blood over THousand Swords, I admit United Aryan Evil beats most Graveland albums. And this coming from a bonafide Graveland fanboy.

 

[SteveO)))]

I actually liked more songs on Fire of Awakening than I did on Thousand Swords.

Maybe I should go back and listen to Thousand Swords again..

 

[J.]

I thought Fire of Awakening was one of the weakest Graveland albums.