Adragard – From the Burning Mist
3 min read
Band: Adragard
Title: From the Burning Mist
Country: Italy
Label: Perkun Records
Release date: 22. June. 18
Format reviewed: Digital Mp3
Adragard is “Pure underground old-school Black Fucking Metal” according to their statement. And yes, it surely is. Starting out as a one-man outfit in 1997, later evolved into a duo. Their history is plagued by hiatuses if that even is a proper word. In 2017 they resurrected again, this time with a full lineup. Now they have delivered their first complete album with real drums an organic production. Earlier offerings have been with the use of programmed drums. This Italian band releases this 20 years after the first demo recording. Lord Adragard, main man, and founder mention influences like Bathory, Venom, Hellhammer, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal, Carpathian Forest in interviews. The inspirations are evident, but this release shows a doomier approach to Black Metal, thus creating a more unique album.
The first song is called Buried in Misery, fairly conventional mid-tempo Black Metal with fitting grim vocals. It is a nice start to the album, production is underground, great riffing.
Cold Necro Ritual is up next. This one varies from sometimes doomy guitar to blistering speed and back again. A great track, my initial notes read: “a bit short”, always a good sign.
Desolate woods an infinitive darkness has an epic feel to it, here Adragard really shows great composition skills. The song gives a chilling feeling, and the need to throw the horns in the air is hard to resist. My favorite track?
Midway through we get The Seventh Scar: a slow one, pounding drums, doomy guitar fades out, comes back with an almost sludge approach. A stand out track giving this album great diversity. Morbid Black Chaos starts of slow like the last one, but with more of a desperate vocal delivery. Depressive and beautiful.
Sick Transit Gloria Mundi is a Latin phrase that means “Thus passes the glory of the world”. It is the beginning of a hymn used during papal coronation (“blessing” of the new Pope) from 1409 to 1963. The song itself bears no obvious links to praise, but rather a black mass in the middle of a forest maybe? Another fine example of great vocals.
Eremo is closing this release, the speech over the classical guitar, just breathtaking. A perfect finish.
To summon up, this is one hell of a release. Adragard delivers a record one might mistake for another BM release among many, many others. Starting off as a fairly straightforward Black Metal, but it is a journey through some twisted minds, creating a beautiful BM record. The diversity and musical skills of this crew are undeniable. Aragard understands and has the ability to make a complete album, meant to hear from start to finish. I am loving this, midway in writing this review, I ordered the cassette edition. This is going to be a cherished part of my collection. Hopefully, this lineup is a solid one, and we can expect another release in the not too distant future. 9/10 Harald
9/10 Epic Storm
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