Saturday, October 18, 2008

Taake - Taake (2008)


There are some things you can always depend on in this world. The price of living gets ever higher. Death is always on the horizon. Giraffes are mean. And Norway will always be the central hub of the black metal scene as we have come to associate it.

From within this bastion of barbarity, Taake
returns for its fourth full-length excursion into the realm of pure Norse black metal. Untainted by the avant-garde intentions of many of their peers, this is execution in effect. Finely tuned black metal over seven tracks. Having already produced two of the decades best black metal album's in Over Bjoergvin Graater Hiimerik and ...Doedskvad, color me not so surprised.

Color me not at all. This is newsprint time. Caustic, scathing black metal indictments of the modern world, never veering from the path. Never dull. The mid-paced "Motpol", with its samples of screaming over finely wrought witchcraft. "Umenneske", with its thrashing, epic riffs. "September Omsider", which simply drops the hammer of its traditional roots directly onto your layman brain.

The production is phenomenal. Grim, yet clear instrumentation all around, vile and consistent vocal lines. And the album retains that elusive 'evil' which truly separates the quality black from the hordes of derivatives.

Another asskicking, another notch in the belt. Trve to form.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (and closer to epic than not)

http://taake.theblacksun.org/

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