### The Black: Alongside death

#### 22/01/09 || Euthanatos

It’s not often that I review a real black metal album. Hell, it’s not often that I actually get to listen to a real black metal album. Let’s face it. After the 90’s, the black metal scene fell into a terrible funk. I’ve been shouting it to the four winds, and it’s nothing about being “true” or “kvlt”, or whatever. It’s simply the fact that style has been put ahead of substance every time. The corpse paint, the leather, the spikes, admitting to being gay… The black metal scene is so concerned with the lifestyle that being black metal supposedly is, they forgot all about the actual music. And guess what, fuckers, that’s what matters most. Actually, that’s the only thing that matters.

Thankfully for me and for the world of extreme metal, there are bands like The Black. Everything about these guys is just what black metal should be about; the simple, core things. No fucking about, no tooting your own horn. Just raw riffs, rasp vocals and Satan. Fuck everything else. Even the visuals, which I’ve been so harshly criticizing, is awesome in this. First of all, you can’t get more to the point than “The Black”. Also, the cover for this album is among the best of 2008; it’s just a black background with an upside down cross drawn into it. That’s pretty much the perfect cover for me. It’s simple, yet completely evil.

The music is your real, raw, stripped to the bone and straightforward black metal. Yes, even the production is murky, just like the style invokes, yet all instruments and vocals are clear enough. And when it gets down to business, The Black has some very appealing riffs to boot. Yearn for the days of Euronymous’ Mayhem, fed up with the flamboyant fashion show that black metal has become? Get this, it won’t disappoint.

The cover: Yeah, I’ve already mentioned that.

7 trolls trolling in the trolleys out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Pulverized Records
- Website: The Black MySpace
- Band
- The Black (Make Pesonen): guitars, drums, keyboards
- D. Forn Bragman: vocals
- Andreas Jonsson: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. On The Descent To Hell
- 02. Death´s Crown
- 03. A Contract Written In Ashes
- 04. Dead Seed
- 05. Fleshless
- 06. Death Throes
- 07. The Wrath From Beneath
- 08. Alongside Death