Clandestine Blaze
Fire Burns in Our Hearts
[Blackmetal.com]


I was prepared to just write "Darkthrone Clone" and leave it at that, but not only would that be unfair, it would be about halfway untrue. Clandestine Blaze are a violently anti-christian Black Metal group from Finland, and this, their debut album, was licensed for CD release by Blackmetal.com Records from the band's home label, Northern Heritage. And yes, their sound and songs are heavily influenced by Darkthrone, but also they manage to capture some of the essence of the inspiration that makes Darkthrone so great, so CB comes off sounding more inspired than the glut of simple clones out there. Maybe it's the complete lack of 'lack of hype' hype that a lot of other 'raw pagan black metal' bands have - there is absolutely NOTHING in the way of liner notes more than a track listing: no propaganda statements, no band pictures, not even a who-does-what. More than any other BM band, this album is ALL about the music and the message in it.

And the music itself - again, quite Darkthrone-influenced, but what black metal isn't? Simple guitar-based riffs dominate the sound, with no gay keyboards (just one part of one song uses a synth at all, and it fits well), solos, or anything in the way of ornamentation - it's just a few riffs and changes that epitomize the 'hypnotic repetition' ideal of black metal, and the riffs range from okay to pretty good. The strength is in the strict adherence to what black metal is really about, not what everyone 'says' it's about. Maybe not the most original piece of music to come out, but I'd be hard-pressed to find anything more sincere about what it is, and so it's certainly more worthwhile than most of anything that's not from one of the big BM bands.


© 1999 lord vic