Primal's debut,
Deathzone, is a puzzling mix of various flavors of Black
Metal. Hailing from Poland and under the sole supervision of mastermind
PrimalOne, the band plays Black
Metal ranging from
True Black
Metal a la
Watain (“Wrath of the
God”), incursions of
Dark Metal a la
Benighted in Sodom (“Book of
Revelation”) and other more experimental avenues.
Production value is rather good given it’s a one-man band project. Vocals, guitars and keys (which bring nice atmospheres notably on the eponymous track) are on par with more modern bands and you shouldn’t expect something ultra-raw a la
Beherit but something a bit more polished. Drums are programmed and though
PrimalOne did a good job on opening track "Wrath of the
God" making me almost doubt it was programmed, there are still a few fuckups here and there and most notably on “Book of
Revelation” or was it intended to sound original? Maybe so, because “original” might well be the leitmotiv of
Deathzone most notably thanks to the guitars.
Liner notes tell us that everything was under
PrimalOne’s control, inclusive of the minimal b&w artwork, except for guitar solos which were recorded by Markiz.
And this is where it gets original. Where
Primal’s music ranges from
True Black
Metal to more personal bleak vistas played with more or less talent and reminiscent of other bands like
Bethlehem, the addition of a separate lead guitar player gives a peculiar vibe to
Deathzone. It does seem that Markiz is more the kind of Heavy
Metal lead guitarist, or maybe is it Thrash
Metal, with an emphasis on velocity and melody not far from
Testament’s Skolnick’s play.
On the first listens, this singular lead guitar play combined with a more common brand of Black
Metal sounds most often very odd and out of place. It’s almost as if Markiz wrote his leads not knowing which music they’d be used with. You may even think the combination of those elements as amateurish but somehow with a few more plays this strange association begins to work its way through your mind. It does make those songs original and with a good use of atmospheric keys, the results are far better than what it may look like here on paper.
I’m not sure where
Primal is heading at the moment and how
PrimalOne wants to develop his sound in the near future but his first offering, while not being a masterpiece, shows promises for something interesting and worth following. I can’t tell if
Primal will turn into the next
Negative Plane or remain entangled with its demons but there’s some untapped potential here.
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