Liste der Bands Pagan Black Kandaon Hell Has No Gate, Yet Men Will Dig to Enter

I like this kind of release. A short split featuring four or more bands just giving a taster of what they're capable of. A variation of styles in a short amount of time, yes, definitely a good sort of release for someone as impatient as myself. Although I think two tracks each would be the perfect length, only one track each here unfortunately but at least it means they don't waste time.

Nocturn play melodic riff-based black metal. The production is pretty average and the vocals are a standard black metal rasp. Nocturn aren't necessarily a bad band but 'Flesh of the Feeble' doesn't make me very excited about a full length album. It certainly isn't bad but just a bit underwhelming, they don't really stand out from the pack and I couldn't really imagine listening to a lot of their music at one time. Still, a decent opening track nonetheless.

Man Among Stars are different from Nocturn, although about just as interesting. They play minimal atmospheric black metal with Transilvanian Hunger style riffing which again, is pretty good for what it is, but Man Among Stars don't really put themselves ahead of the pack at all, so while this songs enjoyable while it's on I'm not really motivated to hunt down a full length. I'm sure that a lot of other people might be interested in them though, their song 'Singuri' reminds me of the sort of thing that bands like Vinterriket and Marblebog do, and the quality is on the same level as though bands (it just so happens that I'm not a fan of those bands either) and I'm sure that people into that sort of black metal might like Man Among Stars.

Kandaon are probably the best band here and I wouldn't mind hearing a full album of their material. The vocalist does that sort of distant moaning thing that a lot of suicidal black metal bands do, although the music's a lot more epic. The only reason they're any better than Man Among Stars and Nocturn is simply that they can write more interesting melodies, the main riff in 'Beyond the Abyss' is an emotional one and it works well, and if they could write a full album of music of a similar quality I'd definitely be interested in listening to it. Kandaon have the longest song on here at nearly 7 minutes yet it still manages to be the most interesting.

Sigismund end the split off rather well, although 'No Redemption' isn't quite as good as the previous Kandaon track. Sigismund follow in similar fashion to Kandaon and Man Among Stars with the atmospheric riff-building black metal, and do so fairly well, although just like the first two bands nothing really sets them apart from other bands of the style. The song is good if a bit generic, not really provoking much of a reaction in me and turning into background music pretty quickly. Still not bad though, the band does everything they need to do in just short of 5 minutes.

This split is alright for background music but not much really stands out besides the fairly interesting Kandaon track. It's worth owning if you like traditional black metal but I think that the bands have a bit more work to do in the songwriting department before they'll really interest me much.