Bane - The Acausal Fire (2012)

The first thing that struck me about The Acausal Fire, much like Bane's prior album Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness, is just how Scandinavian an approach they take to their atmospheric, semi-symphonic brand of deathly black metal. The majestic progressions present in their tremolo bursts are redolent of groups like Dissection, Dark Funeral, Marduk and Lord Belial, the vile dissonance of the eerier minor chords was pretty much the standard in the formative works of Norse and Swedish acts through the 90s and beyond, and they're not the sort to shy away from using higher, cleaner production standards than the primordial swamp of grime and wretchedness that inspired them.

However, despite its obvious level of competence and polish, I didn't take much away from their debut. A decent album, sure, but nothing to write home in blood about when there were hundreds of other, similar options through the prior two decades which had already marked out the territory. The Acausal Fire is a superior use of the band's arsenal in just about every department (save maybe the vocals). The Serbians have made better use of their twisting tremolo progressions, and loads of eloquent dual harmonies that create a necessary contrast against the gruesome dual guttural-rasp vocals. Needless to say, there are effortless blasts coursing beneath the rush of the guitars, and the band lean on the faster side of composition, but The Acausal Fire takes plenty of moments to breathe here, and the riff selections are in general far better than those of the prior album. Symphonic elements used in spots like the 'intro' and 'outro' are lavish, moody, orchestral and engrossing, while the gleaming melodies of tunes like "As Chaos Rises" will instantly settle themselves into your memory without much concentration.

Vocals are quite varied here, with the aforementioned grunts and rasps used throughout most of the metallic sequences, backed by excellent, cleaner choirs or the occasional surge into some salacious snarl not unlike you'd have heard from Ihsahn or Dani Filth in their primes. The mix is incredibly, almost surgically pristine, so those who want a lot of mud, reverb and noise in their black metal will not desire to slop from this trough, but personally I'm a fan of both sides of the coin, and have no problem with either when the music's good. And this music IS pretty damn good. Not perfect, surely not unique in the slightest, but very well executed black metal that furthers the Serbians and songwriters. The inclusion of the cover of Dissection's "Night's Blood" is a fitting bonus, not only because that's a great song, but because Bane knows exactly what to do with it; the Swedes were unmistakably one of this band's most fundamental influences. Apart from being brighter, though, it's hardly an unusual re-interpretation. But it doesn't need to be, because the rest of this album leading up to it is quite spectacular of its own right.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://baneband.com/

Bane - Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness (2010)

You wouldn't think of Serbia as a hotbed for metal acts quite yet, but in fact there are a hundred or so bands hailing from the area, one of whom I present to you here. Bane, not at all to be confused with the popular US hardcore band, performs a mix of black and death metal with strong production and an intense focus on the riffing over sheer vitriolic speed, their debut Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness a decent if familiar work that may indeed appeal to fans of numerous genres. The 'death metal' portion of the album manifests largely through some of the chugging riff patterns and about 50% of the vocals, which are splayed out in guttural excess, while the remainder consists of streaming, cutting chords and rampant snarling.

Bane certainly sounds like a great deal of other bands, in particular Norse bands like Emperor in collision with Swedish bands like Dark Funeral or Hypocrisy, but I'd say they cast a wide enough net that you don't feel the material is too derivative of any one school of fish. Perhaps the strongest point of this full-length debut is that the band pace themselves well, offering some variety through the track list that keeps the listener engaged, though not exactly glued. The "Awakening of the Evil Spirits" intro is a nice synthesized classical overture breached by the hammering of "The True Insomnia", a piece that quite evenly divides its time between the two constituent genres, while "Pandemonium" writhes along at a brisk, mid pace through which the thunder of the rhythms is glazed over in chorus shouts, double bass and brisk flights of increased speed. After this is an acoustic piece, "Lost Shadows", and then a fairly brutal onslaught called "Abhorrence".

No two songs sound quite the same, and each delivers at least 1-2 quality riffs, my personal favorites coming in the melodic swagger of "The Haunting Presence" or the callous, blasting abandon of "The Dawn No More Rises". There's a nice ambient interlude piece deeper in the album titled "Dysthymia" which further cements the band's ability to vary up their content that the witness remain allured, but I wouldn't say that this was necessarily a great record, if only because there aren't enough tracks that you'll want to revisit constantly. Fans of bigger budget Swedish or Norse melodic black metal might very well find this their cup of blood tea, because the mix itself is quite enormous, and the compositions are never boring, but they're not blazing any new trails through the conscience. So, what we're ultimately left with is a debut that shows the talent and reach of a batch of individuals (all of whom also perform in other acts), but does little to bore itself beyond the upper layers of memory.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/baneband