Azziard – ”Metempsychose” (Malpermesita records)
The first time you play this album, do not have the volume turned up very high, because the gentle intro of Premier Jour suddenly switches to ”L’Enfer…” which is so powerful, it’ll blast you into the middle of next week. Welcome to the third album from French black metallers, Azziard.
Azziard, it seems, love a concept album. So from World War One, the band have switched things up to seeking out the darkest corners of the human mind… well they’ve certainly fucked with my mind with such a mind blowing beginning, pun intended.
I’ve said this many times in reviews, but concepts are pretty much lost on me, bar a bit of King Diamond and his storytelling, so I’ll mainly focus on the quality of the music with this review. And the quality is as good as you’ll hear.
Produced once again at Hybreed, and mastered this time at Vamacara studios, this album sits very comfortably with any of the major Black Metal bands. I don’t know if it’s down to the production or the new blood in the band, but wow, this album is just immense.
Power is the name of the game as everything hits you with such a forceful impact. The battery of drums, the snarling vocals and the driving guitars… it just clicks. And it’s not an all-out blastfest. Every nuance is well thought out and every quieter moment is perfectly balanced with the onslaught going on around it.
I don’t know if this is a fair comparison, but I’d place this up there with Dimmu Borgir, in terms of a big Black metal sound. This isn’t symphonic, but the sound is huge and the drums have a similar impact… again, pun intended, sorry.
Azziard are an angrier proposition and aren’t as easy on the ear as some of Dimmu Borgir’s more keyboard led moments. But if they stripped back their sound and upped the intensity, you’d probably find Azziard lurking in the corner.
Anyway… I think this is an album of unrivalled quality and one you should all be checking out. Buy or fucking die…
https://www.facebook.com/azziard/
If you really would like to support Antichrist, you can just Share our article.
You can also support Antichrist by sending a couple bucks to cover some webhosting expenses. =>> PayPal
