Recent updates
- S(crap)s: I Miss My Death / Kaoskult / Raus & Perunwit (split) / Spatial / Thy Flesh (13/06/14)
- Hatebreed: The rise of brutality (12/06/14)
- Vomiting Corpses: Coma - The spheres of innocence (11/06/14)
- Mayhem: Esoteric warfare (10/06/14)
- S(crap)s: Akrotheism / Black Altar / Druknroll / Enthroned / Funeral Sutra (09/06/14)
- Agalloch: The serpent & the sphere (08/06/14)
- Dark Tranquillity: Construct (07/06/14)
- In Flames: The jester race (06/06/14)
- S(crap)s: Souldrainer / Tonic Breed / Rude / Defying / Electric Hellride / Scorned Disciple (05/06/14)
- Culted: Oblique to all paths (04/06/14)
- read
Recent discussions
Reviews
Winterblut: Von den pflichten schönes zu vernichten
11/01/12 || Cobal
Well, here we are, here we go… (hawking) … Heil, fucks! This is my first review for Global Domination and, hell, I’m delighted fo’sure! One could have broken into the reviews section rrriiiiiight within the comfort area by writing about some politically correct album; you know, some ultratruecult act such as ________ (you name it) when releasing their most ultratruecult album or whatever that gave’em enough fame for subsisting only ‘cause of their first lucky strike, but that’s simply not me. Instead, I’ll start with a recent discovery of mine: Winterblut from Germany.
“Winterblut” or “winter blood” in English, is the solo project of an ol’fuck who names himself L’Hiver, and who happens to be one of those anti-Christian mean bad-ass motherfuckers always trying to appear eviler and eviler than the previous one. He also owns his own studio and… whatever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m deeply into unholy black metal bands, and always praise solo projects as I believe them to be the truthful expression of independent composers-instrumentalists. The thing I’m fed up with is the disgusting necessity of quite a lot of them for creating a whole character around them, with the pitiful expectations of becoming a legend of the underground. There ain’t enough room in this world for another Count Grishnackh.
The album that concerns me at the moment is “Von den Pflichten Schönes zu vernichten”. Apparently, it means “obligation of destroying the beauty” or something; fuck, it fucking fulfills its fucking mission! This is the ugliest form of black metal I’ve heard in a long long time. You could say I’m some kind of psycho music downloader; I’m sure during the last six years I’ve downloaded around two thousand albums; perhaps even more. Having heard, seen, read and analyzed so much freaking metal has its disadvantages, you can bet on that. There comes a moment when one cannot decide what shit is worth it. There are just too many crappy bed room projects out there, and of course I refuse to listen just to what big labels put out, so one starts to bring together their own criteria.
Country of origin, music genre and sub-genre, musicians involved, acquaintances’ recommendations, good or bad reviews, etc., might be the main criterions when choosing something, yet, I’m positive I’m not the only one who judges the artwork or the cover before purchasing/downloading my 2001st listen to. May I say the cover art in this case is three things and three things only: obscure, minimalistic and intriguing. Also, that’s exactly what you’ll find here musically. “Von den Pflichten Schönes zu vernichten” is bizarre, dissonant, atmospheric, simple and trancy, so to speak.
No, repeat: NO, it has nothing to do with electronic scum. What I mean is each one of the seven songs here attempts and in my case managed to lead the listener into a trance state with its slow pace and disharmonic but simple counterpointed riffs between guitar and bass guitar. Now, there are some quite interesting features that make this work unique: firstly, first thing that stroke me, and that’s obvious since the very first track, “Gewolte Gewalt” is the way bass is used; contrary to most BM acts, bass guitar is neither following nor supporting the guitar riffs, it’s rather riffing itself on its own path. Furthermore, it feels as though guitar riffs were widening bass’ ones. Second, there will be plenty of moments when bass and guitar will play very similar lines, except when one of them simply shuts the fuck up and lets the other “say” something. This happens a hell of a lot, and I find it twisted and delicious. Third, as usual, vocals are raw, except they seem to vanish behind the music; they sound as though they had been mashed and spread under the mammoth weight of the riffs, in order to make them even obscurer than the average BM ones out there. Finally, riffs’ simplicity convey the feeling of listening to a musical dramatization of a pendulum which ticks some kind of countdown, and produces anxiety and what you could call desperation.
Now the cons: there’s no such a thing as THE perfect album to me. If it’s blast beats what you’re looking for, know it in advance: this is not your type; there are only two instants I can recall with such resource in them. Truth be told, unless you are into raw atmospheric black metal and at the same time open-minded enough to give certain amount of experimentation a chance, you’ll simply throw up, of that I’m sure. Also, even if you cover the profile, either you get caught by and aboard the trip this album offers, or you’ll feel lost around the fourth track or even earlier. Furthermore, prima facie, it’s easy to believe vocals are plain and merely weak, although I strongly believe they were meant just as they are.
“Winterblut” is an ugly project of an ugly man. “Von den Pflichten Schönes zu vernichten” is a bunch of horrible dissonant riffs and presents us with the sound of a nightmare. Not a fantastic, inspiring but threatening one, but that one you’d have if you licked a lizard after messing with the wrong mushrooms. Enjoy.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Grom Records
- Website: www.winterblut.de
- Band
- L’Hiver: vocals, all instruments
- Tracklist
- 01. Gewollte Gewalt
- 02. Unheil über Alles
- 03. Weltuntergangsmaschine
- 04. Rot auf Weiß
- 05. Vernichtungskomitee
- 06. Keine Worte
- 07. Leibhaftig
