Weird is not a bad thing.
There is nothing wrong with being different
and out of the mainstream.
If we worried
about things like that there probably wouldn't be any metal, nor would there
the free thinkers who were willing to buck trends and current beliefs to bring
along advancements in all areas of life.
So when I call these bands a couple of French weirdos, I mean it in the
nicest way possible.
Blut Aus Nord has been a
band that I have kept an eye on for a long time.
Their particular brand of avant garde black
metal weirdness is just really, really good to me.
Their output is spectacularly solid and
consistent, taking traditional black metal and twisting and warping it in all
the right ways.
On this split, they give
us 3 songs that are not necessarily groundbreaking, but they continue their
long trend of music that is just amazingly good.
Not a lot of vocals going on with these
tunes, but does there really need to be any?
There is an unholy vibe simmering just below the surface of these
tracks, as with all of their best work.
If you're not familiar with this band, use this as a jumping off point
but check out their 777 trilogy of albums for some of the most amazing black
metal you're going to hear.
P.H.O.B.O.S is an entity
unknown to me prior to hearing this split, and the good news for me is that
this one man band definitely brings the weirdness.
I guess the closest you would describe this
music is industrial metal, but slow motion industrial as it does not have the
same up tempo feeling that a lot of industrial music has.
Which is not to say it is lacking in any
way.
I really enjoyed the 3 tracks here.
The somewhat tribal rhythms of the genre are
here, but the rest of the instrumentation more or less worms its way around and
gives you that slippery feeling that makes the music seem like something you
can't quite grasp or latch on to.
The
tracks here are definitely worth multiple listens as they reveal little nuances
as you get familiar with the basics and listen for something more.
If you listen to splits and try
to compare one band with the other, or think that they should sound alike, this
one will disappoint you.
But that is not
always the idea of a split.
Keep your
mind open and enjoy the sounds brought to you by each band, in their own
way.
Don't short change either of the
bands, or yourself.
If you are a fan of
metal that's a little on the avant side, or if you just want to try something a
little out of the ordinary, give this one a whirl.
- ODIN
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