Band's List Black Metal Astrophobos Arcane Secrets

With Black Metal having virtually exploded in the first decade of the 21st century, to become, if not with the public, the most popular genre of metal with musicians, it has become exceedingly difficult for new bands to scope out a viable place for themselves. The most logical way to try such for sure is trying to be original, a fact that has been responsible for experiments varying from ambient to deep into the ethnic. However, given the lack of experience of starting outfits, trying to create something truly original and new, proves beyond the skills of most and clear successes in such are exceedingly rare now.

But, trying to be innovative at all cost is risky and certainly not the only way in which a band can prove itself. Let us not forget, that despite the fact that many of the early “godfathers” of black metal have long gone foul in their creativity, that the original concepts of the style were indeed great and have captured the hearts of millions of music lovers. In short, if one manages to reinterpret the old concepts and plays them in an solid and convincing way, that is a achievement in itself. It is exactly here that the subject of this review, the new Swedish band “Astrophobos” debut EP, comes in.

Astophobos is one of the newest branches on the impressive Swedish Black Metal tree – With Norwegian Black Metal having featured more prominently in the spotlight, it is often forgotten that the Swedes have made almost as much contribution to the genre and have given birth to some of its more long-lasting and quality-constant outfits -. The band was formed only last year and it is at present a three piece consisting of bassist/vocalist Micke Broman and guitarists Martin Andersson and Jonas Ehlin. As they so far lack a regular drummer, guest David Schlein-Andersen fills the gap on their maiden release.

Unlike many of the newer outfits Astrophobos is not seeking the experiment, but instead picks up the threads of mid- and late 1990’s Scandinavian black metal: In all likeliness I am not the first one to notice similarities with some of the earlier Dissection material. I hear you thinking, “Ahhhh, but I have already heard tons of such stuff” In that case I can only advise you to hold your conclusions for a while and first listen to the stuff that these three guys have laid down on “Arcane Secrets”! The professionalism they show for such a new band is really unbelievable and they sound so determined and convincing that if you didn’t know, you might easily conclude that they must have been around for years.

Their music is fast as that of the 90’s examples they are following, fully using the strength that comes from two guitarists who clearly know their trade well, with precision laid of a rock-solid bed of rhythm section. This instrumental layer is crowned with Micke’s incredibly consistent voice, which has all that good black metal vocals must have, but at the same time is of such clarity, that those with a good knowledge of the English language will have little trouble to pick up most of the lyrics. Space for tempo and theme changes as well as melodic guitar riffing is made in a very intelligent way and even the vocals have their melodic edges where that fits. Nothing for those who seek closed sound walls of utterly distorted guitar and vocals growled in a way that they become beyond recognition, but a true jewel for those who love fast, classic black metal with strong melodic influences.

Also in their general appearance they enhance their professionalism. From the few pictures I have so far seen from the band, I have learned that, although by no means looking like the boys next door, the band chooses to refrain from much of the well known black metal fetishism: No cliché black and white painted faces looking distorted with hatred and no complete pre-medieval weapon chambers to clarify evil intentions. For me this is like a fresh wind over a mound of rotting corpses. That stuff has been done, overdone and redone again by some many hundreds, (often to cover up their lack of musical talent). that in the end you get sick of such clichés. No, music, that is what the true fan is looking for, and that is what Astrophobos provides you with, damn good music with no unnecessary frills!


ARTWORK, PRODUCTION AND RELEASE

The only slight critic I feel I have to air is about the band’s logo, which in the frantic race for ever more complex designs in the black metal scene, is not really something to write home about in lyrical terms. But then, who really cares about that, given that in many other music genres simple letter prints from ms-word are considered sufficient. The sleeve’s front however is wonderfully done and creates a true atmosphere of desolation: Amidst a small group of dead, gnarled trees there features the pitiful remains of a Christian church, just one piece of wall with a single window portal in it still standing. Only a scattering of decaying gravestones for the further reminds that once here the unholy Christian cult was practiced. The ominously pink evening sky looming over the scene leaves you with the strong impression that the sufferings of this desolated land are far from over yet. Great design, but as a pagan radical, I might not be an impartial judge in this.

As is the case with so many first releases of metal bands nowadays, Arcane Secrets was auto – produced and released. (In fact, and most unfortunately the EP is limited to 500 copies only: I am sure demand for it will soon force the band to extend that number considerably). There are still a few fossils around that think that auto-production per definition stands for poor quality. Well, no evidence at all for such here, the production of the release is as professionally done as everything about the band so far. Hardly even a small flaw is recognizable in the production, and if somebody were to suddenly be zapped into the present from the eighties, he for sure would conclude that there must be a major recording company behind it. Anyway, I have the feeling that it won’t be long before this band indeed will be signed up for a major label.

THE TRACKS

Here it is time to utter the most vehement protest so far: There are only 3 tracks on the record, totaling less than 17 minutes, and that is not enough guys! Not only do we want to hear more, but just 3 songs is critically little for anyone to get an idea of the true capabilities of a band.

Nevertheless, the three that are there are solid and good. As they are all remarkably in the same style and played according to a similar concept, I won’t lose myself here in novel-writing about every last detail of them, (My previous introduction to Astrophobos musical concept says enough about it, I think). For my taste the opener, “Divine Necromancy” lags somewhat behind the other two, not so much as it is of lower quality, but more because it is the shortest of the three. I have the feeling, that for music in this style, a certain minimum length of songs is necessary to let it come to full bloom. The title track that follows is in my view better, because it shows more of the band’s arsenal of musical skills and also has more variation and a stronger influence of melodic elements. Personally I for sure choose the third, and ,not surprisingly the longest, track, “Crossing the Abyss” as my favorite.

CONCLUSIONS

One thing so far cannot be judged and that is how much staying power the band will show, but provided they know how to deliver in this field, they can hardly fail, to quickly built up recognition for themselves. As I said, with a first release so convincing as this one, getting a decent record deal will probably be not to difficult for Astrophobos. The musical style they have chosen, although somewhat classical and mainstream (If such terms may be applied to black metal at all), is sure viable, as it is the one that made the genre big in the first place. Lastly, their musical talents are up to the challenge, so I am quite confident we will hear more from them and probably for a long time to come. I was positively impressed by Arcane Secrets, so 17 out of 20 from me!

Gletscherwolf, 16-12-2010