Unorthodox Steps of Ritual

Ah, Phil Anselmo. Viking Crown is what happens when a man has too many drugs, ideas, time and money. I've often wondered if there's ever been a musical idea that Anselmo didn't record? Most people take the 1,000 thoughts running through their head, figure out which ones are actually worth pursuing and run with those. That doesn't seem to be the case here.

It's not that I have any problem with a musician branching out into different styles of music. If Phil wanted to have a black metal project, that's totally fine. But if you're going to do it, try not to sound like you have no clue. Unorthodox Steps of Ritual contains seven tracks of black metal that sound so forced and fake that it makes me disgusted to be a fan of the genre.

If there's one thing the disc does have, it's consistency. The programmed blast beats are consistently generic, the guitar riffs are extremely weak and the vocals are cliche (well, the wailing at least) - throughout the entire disc. There is very little variation from track to track making it a consistent listen, though consistently bad.

Upon coming across this project, I heard that it was a throwback style in the vein of Darkthrone. Please. That's a total cop out. If this wasn't Phil Anselmo's band, no one would be comparing this album or the style to one of the legends of the genre. Just because the sound is raw and underproduced doesn't mean Viking Crown deserve any linkage to the old school bands. If anything, the lack of quality production (which tends to vary from song to song) from a guy that could clearly afford to have some, makes me want to write "Poser" across the front and toss it in the garbage.

It's an interesting artifact for sure and Anselmo's intentions were in the right place but if you're a fan of black metal, Unorthodox Steps of Ritual is just another one of the discs in the corner pile of bullshit that gives the genre its well deserved black eye.