Blood of Kingu - De Occulta Philosophia
March 24 2008 at 06:47:33 AM
Supernal’s meal-ticket, Roman Saenko turns now to Tibetan shwams, rkang gling and Indian drums to underline what we’re told is the reincarnation of his previous group, Hate Forest with added themes of “Sumerian, ancient Egyptian, and Indo-Aryan mythology,” but which sounds oddly at first like Deathspell Omega played on a rental of Lars Ulrich’s St. Anger snare. Not any great consolation to grant that it’s far less labored than the former, since it remains as much of a fatuous and over-hyped turd as the latter.
Blood of Kingu’s courting of the exotic is as manifestly safe as its methods are indolent. “Shamanic” attributes are not new to Black Metal, but have become something of a recent and uninspiring trend. Here, the novelty is all that matters and the resulting material, lacking any atmosphere or attempt to incorporate these aspects beyond small interludes, instead placing them beside mumbling vocals and the same bland and fuzzy folk melodies, lacking in every respect the puissant force associated with Hate Forest, positively wilts beside groups like Arckanum, Waldteufel or even Chet Scott’s Blood of the Black Owl. Together with the increasing nullity of Saenko’s priority outfit, Drudkh (pronounced “doo-doo” here at LHP), this ironic multi-ethnic version of that same old song only reminds one that the map of worthwhile places to search for quality Black Metal has indeed become that much smaller.
[Todd DePalma]
.jpg "Interview: Lugubrum")
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