Black Burn – The Invocation (c.d)

Sometimes in your mind you are wondering what could have happened … The band history (or rather lack thereof) of Black Burn is such a case. It’s not the common tale of missed opportunities, lost chances or sheer bad luck but a rather good example of wrong place, wrong time. Musically, Black Burn were far ahead of their time. But they picked the wrong place.

Forming in the Western part of Berlin, in the Cold War days of the early 1980’s, Black Burn never really reached “Go” and did not grow outside of the infamous demo tape.

This release is a cleaned up, re-mastered version of the demo tape from the band which was rumoured to have influenced the track “Necrophile“ on Slayer’s “Reign In Blood.”

Opening track “Skylla” starts the album with a dark, forbidding lyrics and sounds not too dissimilar to early Venom.

“Priest Of Dread” is slightly more upbeat and picks the pace up before “The World Is An Immeasurable War” kicks in.

“The World Is An Immeasurable War” is the only saving grace to the album with it’s dark edged sounds reminiscent of the Fields of the Nephilim.

”Necrophile” has elements of great guitar playing in it but suffers from the same major issue that seems to be present throughout the album – the quality of the vocals is below par.
Overall this release is disappointing and is really only beneficial to collectors of rare early gloom pioneering bands.

Highlight of the cd: “The World Is An Immeasurable War”

4/10

Track Listing:
1 Skylla (Demo 1985);
2 Priest Of Dread (Demo 1985);
3 The World Is An Immeasurable War (Demo 1985);
4 Necrophile (Demo 1985);
5 Dr Vollin (Demo 1985);
6 Unnamed Bonus track;

Members:
Jörg Franke on bass and plus guitar;
Marcel Klinger on vocals;
Carsten Köhler on guitar;
Timo Niedenzu on drums;