This band reminds me a lot of Canaan except they seem to rely exclusively on the concept of being weird and the female trying to do vocals needs an axe embedded in her head. Basically The Golden Section utilizes a doom-encompassing industrial ambient setup with tracks that are way too long and monotonous, due largely in part to an irritating drum machine and overly lackluster riffing. There are some definite black metal ties here, particularly in the male's aggressive and destructive vocals, and the guitars seem intended to be heavy and strong but they fail to generate any real interesting moments. I suppose those really into this form of music could enjoy it but there's a lot of similar bands who do this formula better (without trying to be so winding and twisted) and thus without any innovate segments, that renders Swartalf pretty much useless.

"Valpurgis" is great but it's the only real highlight of the album besides some various moments in "Cognitive Dissonance and Carrousel's Sleep". "Child of Night" is absolutely terrible and that bitch whines for damn near ten minutes with a tone that makes me want to shove a fork in my ear. As a whole this band would improve greatly if they put some effort into producing a darker sound.

Too lacking in development. Go listen to G.G.F.H. or In Slaughter Natives instead.

© 2001 hando