Moonblood
Blut & Krieg
[Sombre]
All those who have an interest in underground black metal & underground fanzines have heard of MOONBLOOD. This legendary band which no longer exists (the 2 members have decided to split up in mid-2000) still has some of its old rehearsal or unreleased material released on various compilations (f.e. "Black metal Blitzkrieg", the EAL vinyl compilation). That's why you can still hear of them, and this may continue as they are supposed to have done around 200 songs, between 1994 & 2000, that still remain unreleased, according to Grim Akenathen's (from JUDAS ISCARIOT) website… And that's great, because this LP is a masterpiece of pure black metal.
When the old legends (yeah, those assholes from Norway) are releasing horrible albums mixing techno, hip hop & other crap to metal, this LP appears as a way to resist to the humanisation of "nowadays black metal". The first track, "In a bloody night of fullmoon", comes just after the "Midnight" short and sober intro; and the first notes of that track take you to a cemetery, with its cold dead gates, the fog coming from the graves and the freezing winds on your neck. The way the keyboard is used is far from the one of bands like Emperor, it is more used in the way Rob Darken (from GRAVELAND) does, sometimes it is in the foreground, but very often it is in the background. The voice remains for me one of the best I've heard in black metal, it avoids the clichés and the pathetic sings used again and again by all common bands down there, it is raw and strident. The riffs may remind you a bit some good times of black metal (DARKTHRONE, and maybe BURZUM, must be their influences), and the ones of tracks such as
"In a bloody night of fullmoon", "...and snow covered the lifeless bodies", "Blut & Krieg" are extremely inspired. You can feel it because MOONBLOOD is a band that doesn't cheat, they are sincere, and that's why they have never released any CD, only some demo & split demo tapes, split EPs, LPs and split LPs (the one with NARGAROTH is supposed to be out soon) : they do only what they believe in. They do not betray themselves, and they split up at a time when they were known in the whole UG in order to stay as a cult band instead of a trend band.
Hail the kings. Hail MOONBLOOD.
Rating : 9 / 10
© 2001 lord pesten
When the old legends (yeah, those assholes from Norway) are releasing horrible albums mixing techno, hip hop & other crap to metal, this LP appears as a way to resist to the humanisation of "nowadays black metal". The first track, "In a bloody night of fullmoon", comes just after the "Midnight" short and sober intro; and the first notes of that track take you to a cemetery, with its cold dead gates, the fog coming from the graves and the freezing winds on your neck. The way the keyboard is used is far from the one of bands like Emperor, it is more used in the way Rob Darken (from GRAVELAND) does, sometimes it is in the foreground, but very often it is in the background. The voice remains for me one of the best I've heard in black metal, it avoids the clichés and the pathetic sings used again and again by all common bands down there, it is raw and strident. The riffs may remind you a bit some good times of black metal (DARKTHRONE, and maybe BURZUM, must be their influences), and the ones of tracks such as
"In a bloody night of fullmoon", "...and snow covered the lifeless bodies", "Blut & Krieg" are extremely inspired. You can feel it because MOONBLOOD is a band that doesn't cheat, they are sincere, and that's why they have never released any CD, only some demo & split demo tapes, split EPs, LPs and split LPs (the one with NARGAROTH is supposed to be out soon) : they do only what they believe in. They do not betray themselves, and they split up at a time when they were known in the whole UG in order to stay as a cult band instead of a trend band.
Hail the kings. Hail MOONBLOOD.
Rating : 9 / 10
© 2001 lord pesten