Watain - Reaping Death EP
April 5 2010 at 02:35:41 PM
They’re in love. Fuck the war. Or at least something like that. We mean figurative war here. And perhaps even figurative fire, night, Satan. Watain has never sounded more complacent in their 12-year history than on this two-track EP,
Reaping Death. Complacency is quality for well-to-do retirees who spend time having their prostates massaged or poles smoked by designer pussy whose names terminate in –ie. Not exactly becoming for Swedes accustomed to wearing pig blood.
The band’s released two good records,
Rabid Death’s Curse (2000) and
Sworn to the Dark (2007), and one masterpiece,
Casus Luciferi (2003). Watain—and maybe vocalist/frontman Erik Danielsson specifically—abandoned occult/Satanic esoterica in 2007 for an overt pedestrian approach, even if the riffs still culled liberally from Dissection’s smoldering spirit. But sole new tune here, “Reaping Death,” is an ur-pedestrian, supra-generic Black Metal bit that takes the sharpest teeth of
Sworn… and files them down into broken and bleeding gums. Danielsson might as well be singing about little blue pills or mail-order brides as the music’s invasive, SPAM-like quality comes off in unintentional comic pratfall. Blast, blast, blast away… Jeff Becerra, former “Satanic Mad-Libs Champ,” it’s time to hand the crown over.
B-side features either Death SS’ “Chains of Death” or Bathory’s “The Return of Darkness & Evil” depending on where you download the thing from. Art by Rusty Ketola. Ultra-limited. Etc.
[Stewart Voegtlin]
.jpg "Jailbait (NSFW)")
print
email
RSS
list
big
small
TWITTER
The records haven't changed, they're the same thing. You just got wiser and now it's time to jump ship, no more investments, no more scene, no more actors, no more bros, market crash etc
Maybe, as you suggest here, it's always been that way. Maybe...
"Watainand maybe vocalist/frontman Erik Danielsson specificallyabandoned occult/Satanic esoterica in 2007 for an overt pedestrian approach"
You dont seem to know what you are talking about....but im sure you feel very satisfied about your reviews, such articulate formulations...
I worshipful esp. that aspect in it, but then I has to sit down backwards and ponderwonder whether I should hear Watain for Master's Hammer and Master's Hammer for Watain or each for zheir own.
So although I think this track has more potency than both last two albums together, I'll still wait 'til I hear the entire album to see what comes out of it.
Truth be told, surely there's more than M.H. here, but THAT was truly what shattered the nice and comfy feelings the last two Watains conveyed (most times I've seen them live they've been out of this planet, which is why I keep waiting for THE album ï¾ they have it inside of them, although they didn't show it yet).
Anyway I think I'll move on and play Master's Hammer for a full month now. ...which wouldn't be fair to Watain though... the worst possible setting to hear ANY new album...
Either way, anyway, the vibe on this track is great. Will be devastating live!
As I write this, I'm listening to the shamelessly downloaded version of "Lawless Darkness" and in fact, I've had to stop this session half way through in order to allow my high regard for "Casus Luciferi" to remain fully intact and untarnished.
So, it is with a heavy heart that I must report that the spirit that once fiercely occupied this entity has taken flight elsewhere. No more is the gooseflesh rising. No more cold blank stares from beyond. Gone is all that was once truly black magickal and perversely perfect. All that remains is a recollection of what once was. It's like saying your final goodbye's to a friend who became a square.
This output bespeaks a distinct Nifelheim influence (I guess), though perhaps inferior. Is this some illfated attempt to win favor of their older peers who were in fact profoundly jealous of their triumph of black salvation that was "Casus Luciferi"?
I don't know what this is honestly and I could give a fuck about the standards of "troo", "kvlt", or worse, "orthodox". Fuck it, I think I'm more emotionally affected by the Black Crowes than most "black metal" at this point.
The new stuff is not bad. Neither is it really good.
It's actually what we could expect because they already have their certain listener group which puts money regular in buying their records or visiting their concerts.
For them it is actually making good business with something they like. Can you really blame them for that? Sure if you stand behind certain believes that say within the "underground" you can't earn money with music. But wasn't it Euronymous himself who said that this kind of money hatting is only bullshit invented by "trendy hardcore pigs"?
Yes concerning PR Watain goes too far. Blabbering about BM being reborn is bullshit if you know very well that your album is gonna be just another mix of Dissection, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and some Celtic Frost riffs.
But who in hell really knowing this band did seriously expect BM being reborn by Watain? I surely didn't. If Deathspell Omega would say something like that I would believe it. But the point is DSO wouldn't.
Yet in the dark there are far better albums than new Watain, made by obscure bands, released by small labels.
But maybe they are not "orthodox" and "misanthropic" enough to advertise their releases on myspace or other social networks. Black Metal today is really one great paradox...