I just got a big package from Obscure Abhorrence Records, which makes me wish I could do those cool roundup CD reviews like in Revolver or Decibel Magazine. Decibel even published my comment about black metal! I just wish Albert Mudrian would stop ignoring my e-mails…
Anyways, these guys at Obscure Abhorrence Records absolutely love black metal, especially with illegible symmetric logos. I certainly don’t think I get enough black metal reviews, and I definitely need some more metalcore albums to beat the crap out of too, so I’m really happy to get some raw, intolerable black metal to terrorize my friends and family with.
DARKMOON WARRIOR seem intent on making “In Fundis Inferoirum” a users guide on how black metal is done, almost like a “Black Metal For Dummies” book. I mean, just look at the title of the first song! It’s called “This Is Black Metal”, and the first words you hear on the song are “This Is Black Metal” croaked from the vocalist, just to tell you what black metal sounds like! It then jumps into some choppy thrash inspired riffs before getting into the mid-paced/quick, blast-beaten tremolo picked fare, then throws in a few punky chords for good measure. The second song, “Blazing Satan Mastercult” starts off with a very 80’s old-school single note staccato strum moving right along with the rat-a-tat-tat of the snare drum. It’s a quick one that’s really thick on the punk feel, and the intro truly does sound evil! The next song, “Ein Pfad in die Schatten” is a long, slow, torturous song spanning a good six minutes, so right in the first three songs, it’s obvious that DARKMOON WARRIOR wants to reflect a few different types of raw, keyboardless black metal. After that, you pretty much get the point.
Sometimes I wonder if some of these black metal bands are taking their craft seriously, or if they’re having fun with the whole persona. On the inside of the digipak, the tagline underneath the band name says “unsophisticated black metal”, although the actual tightness in the playing suggests the band is better at playing their instruments than they’re letting on. Listing instruments played as “6 string strangulation”, “apocalyptic hellhammers” and “throat from hell” is only a couple of hairs below Gorerotted in comedic value. If DARKMOON WARRIOR refuses interviews and states the members fight with each other, they’re all set!
The overall theme coming from “In Fundis Inferoirum” doesn’t quite reach much resembling “grim”. Even though it came out last year, it does come off as a hell of a lot of (derivative) black metal fun.
7/10
The Official Darkmoon Warrior Website
Darkmoon Warrior at MySpace
Obscure Abhorrence Records
