Kvist
For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike
[Avantgarde]


Avantgarde Music out of Italy produce yet another excellent disc, this time by a fairly mysterious group of Norwegians playing fast, technical, and all together excellent black metal. You won't find anything *purely* original on this disc, but the music is so good that Kvist basically create their own sound/style. I'm not sure exactly how to classify this music (thus the bestowing of "their own original sound/style) but I guess we could say there's some influences on here from Satyricon, Immortal...some similarities to newer Setherial...maybe some more melodic bands like old Dimmu Borgir. Altogether though, the music here is VERY well done, combining a mass amount of black metal elements...but at the same time combining them in a style that is successful and provides a good listen. Musically, the songs are mostly all fast, but as with many bands, it's the slower/mid-paced parts that stick out. Listen to mid way through "Min Lekam Er Meg Blott En Byrde" (phew) for a nice funeral-esque keyboard section that blasts into a fast paced scream fest, or even the opener "Ars Manifestia" which combines bass that a person can actually here (!actually the bass is a heavy aspect of the music!) with some nice mid-paced riffs/drumming. Vocals here aren't really original, though through the different variations they go through (multiple vocalists I believe belting out everything from normal rasps to brutal scream like yells) add nicely to the music. Guitars here are very good....interesting riffs are found all over the place (the riff at the beginning of "Vettenetter" fucking rules) or they combine with they keyboards to add a nice melodic flare. Speaking of keyboards, someone here knows exactly how to use them. Although not overtly technical, they add a much needed element to the music, and fit perfectly into each and every song. As with lots of black metal though, the highest point of the music are the drums...whoever our drummer is here can hold keep with the likes of Hellhammer...fast and tight as hell, perfect double bass, great rolling sections...."wow" would be the best word to describe this. I'm not sure if those of you who have made it this far through the review get my point yet...so: GET THIS. I'm fucking serious!!! This is a great disc, and even though only 38 minutes long will surely please anyone into fast/brutal black metal that successfully uses melody and even depressive riffs to create simply excellent music. Superb to say the least.


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