Tristengrav – II – Nychavgé
Raw black metal from Greece that still maintains a ton of punk feel to it.
I was looking forward to hearing this one as I loved the first demo, Incendiarism of Nous, when it came out an year ago.
The sophomore effort from this Patras, Greece based quintet bring us four new tracks (plus an outro) of total black metal radness complemented with a strong punk feel, only not played by some nihilist assholes with dodgy politics. Instead you get these five Greek crusties delivering all the goods in a raw, evil and obscure way, just the way it’s gotta be.
The music ranges from wrecking a straight forward old school black metal havoc with sinister vocals, primitive blast beats and tremolo picks, to pounding d-beat, crust and punk essentials—think of Bathory meets Anti-Cimex, Rudimentary Peni, and G.I.S.M. in a Greek anarchist squat plotting to launch an all-out attack against the modern world of mundane trivialities and denied freedoms.
Incorporating Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy within their lyrics while dealing with an all encompassing negativity and dark visions of the world we live in, Tristengrav is much more than your average Satanist band with a Norwegian sounding name. These guys are well thought-out on both 1980s extreme music and meaningful, esoteric lyricism. With hauntingly harsh vocals, wailing guitars and pummeling back beat to invoke a state of primordial chaos altogether, this is some of the best DIY recordings—released in the good, old fashioned tape format by Caligari Records—to come out this year. Whether you like raw black metal, crust or just metallic punk, this is a recommended listen.
