BLODSRIT „Ocularis Infernum”

Music: Black Metal
Duration: 40:00 minutes (9 songs)
Good songs: Secrets Unveiled, The Rape Of Vestal Purity

Many disgust symphonic black metal around, which is so numerous nowadays. Therefore, loads of bands claim to still make the good old, raw, tormenting black metal of the Darkthrone kind. They might be right, but it’s usually all the same crap. Some bands though, manage to add enough originality, and quality to their songs, but still remain raw and filthy. Among those bands is Blodsrit.

With a production that is on the edge of being still black, a little Viking touch, and a not too technical style, it quite pleasant to listen to. The band used to be of greater musical quality, but vocalist Nazgûl (must be a Lord Of The Rings fan) decided to cut down the technical part a little, in order to become simple, black and evil. Because of this, the songs became more of the Carpathian Forest/Marduk kind; black, but with some shades of grey here and there. In general, the band’s sound is more melodic, groovier and thicker than most raw black metal bands’. The good melodies that can be found here and there are to be put in the “suicide” category, and are usually heavily supported by the plentiful yet pleasant double bass drums.

The black metal screeching fits very well on this album, I sometimes have trouble with such vocals if they are too thin, but this is definitely not the problem here. The guitar sound is a little primitive, but not as prehistoric as most true black metal bands’ production. The drums don’t sound very common, the bass is thicker than normal. But rest sounds a little, as usual, like kitchen utensils. The tracks don’t pass as constant ear-fucking, but all possess some welcome variation.

This disk has some very good bang-your-head moments, which are especially shown is the better tracks, like Secrets Unveiled. Due to loads of double bass, every song contains some pseudo-adrenaline moments. Although this album is quite original, I can’t deny having heard similar sounding stuff, but because it’s good, I’ll not have it push down the quote too much. What I also want to say about this record, is that if I have to choose between Darkthrone’s “Hate Them”, and Ocularis Infernum, I think I will go for the last one!

note: 7.0/10

Tracklist

01 Tragedies to Come
02 Secrets Unveiled
03 In Dark Silence I Die
04 Dying Breed
05 The Rape of Vestal Purity
06 I Sorg, for Syndens Saknad
07 Infernal Reign
08 Rulers of the Desolate Lands
09 The Glorious Rise of the Flames