PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Black metal from the icy wastes of… Portugal!
One look at the band name, the album title, and the cover, all scream out Norway or Finland. But no, Armnatt does indeed hail from the Iberian Peninsula, and Portugal. More surprising to me, is that until now, I had never heard of or come across them and that this is their fourth full-length album. So, let us get acquainted, shall we?
With the sounds of persisting rain, and a rolling thunderstorm, the first track “All is Silent” is 2 minutes and 45 seconds of bad weather. Certainly pointing to the “Nature” part of the album title. Then we are into the second track which is also the title track to the album.
Ice and Doom…
Pretty much straight away, we are hit with an icy guitar tone that is quite loud and sharp. The riff is slow and doomy, but then gradually builds up in speed, before a pretty generic kind of black metal riff kicks in. As does the bass guitar which is far too dense in the mix. And the vocals sound like you would expect. Except they were recorded at the opposite end of a very big room from the rest of the band.
“Imponent Ruins” starts off with a rather punky vibe to it which is not half bad. The indecipherable screams from the singer actually spoil it…
And from here it’s pretty much the same fare across the board, apart from the totally needless 25 seconds of bad earthing sounds that make up “Images Of The Past”. If you like your black metal to be of the “kvlt” nature, likely this album will appeal to you.
For me, it’s nothing I haven’t heard before from countless BM bands worldwide, but I was expecting something a tad different. On the whole, there is nothing wrong with the album, apart from the sound mix, but nothing about it makes Armnatt stand out from the crowd, and makes me want to check them out further.
The album is released on 26th August on Signal Rex Records
Track List
01 – All Is Silent
02 – Immortal Nature
03 – Imponent Ruins
04 – Eternal Entity
05 – Black Flame
06 – Images Of The Past
07 – Wilderness Domain
08 – Shadow Dust
09 – Infinite Darkness
10 – Nature Takes Its Course
Total running time: 38 Minutes
Links
- Download 5 Euros, CD (.90 Euros
