Aftermath Music
2004
- Monolithic Death
- Rise of the 2nd Moon
- On Funeral Wings
- Dragon of Doom
- Hyperion
- Ocean Demon
- Emperor of the Underworld
- Trifid Nebula
- The Doomsday Scythe
- Riders of Endtime
- In a Darkened Tomb
- Black Star Abyss
- Wizard with the Magick Runes
The Swedish, criminally underrated RUNEMAGICK is one of those bands, like HATE FOREST, who are almost too prolific for their own good. Following their departure from Century Media Recs, they've released no fewer than FIVE albums and a split 7" since 2002! Fortunately, RUNEMAGICK haven't sacrificed quality for quantity; it simply seems that mastermind Nicklas "Terror" Rudolfsson has a very creative mind.
For those (and there are plenty of you) who aren't familiar with RUNEMAGICK's music, I'd like you to imagine 1970's BLACK SABBATH playing HYPOCRISY's Penetralia album with plenty of dark atmospheric parts, and you're close. The band itself calls it "dark death metal," and that's a very apt description. Earlier releases (on Century Media) were often faster than is the case now, bearing more resemblance to Sunlight death metal than to doom, but RUNEMAGICK has slowed down with the years, with the music now often comfortably crawling along at doomy, sludgy tempos. Sometimes, though, there are groovy uptempo triplet riffs that constitute my main point of reference to Penetralia, and under those riffs drummer Daniel Moilanen really gets to showcase his great ability to lock onto the riffing and create really groovy headbanging pieces. Great instrumentation is key here since vocals and lyrics are sparse, and the band often descends into several minutes of instrumental jamming, which generally works well and doesn't become boring.
I am betting that most of this whole thing (all 73 minutes of it!) save for some later overdubs, was recorded in pretty much one take with all instruments live -- the album has a real "jam session" feel to it, with songs always blending into each other: no silence between the tracks here! The masterful production really helps the atmosphere, with the downtuned guitars and bass sounding nowhere close to modern Abyss ideals, but rather having that nice, warm, vintage analog sound to them, and -- get this -- the drums actually sound like DRUMS! If there is one thing to complain about here, it is that the cymbals don't have enough punch -- they're just "sorta there" in the background, where cymbals should really crash through the sound to give impact to the hits. Still, only a minor complaint. The sound here is really something to admire, which is quite impressive seeing as it was recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by guitarist/vocalist/song writer Rudolfsson in his own studio.
While RUNEMAGICK isn't really being innovative here -- their last couple of albums sounded pretty much the same -- this is, as I've come to depend on from them, truly a quality release in a distinctive RUNEMAGICK style. Obviously a true labour of love for music, with Nicklas doing everything from writing most music and lyrics to the recording and production in his own studio, to the artwork. Recommended to pretty much anyone who likes vintage-sounding doom or mid-paced death metal.
Rating: 8/10
