Of Beasts and Vultures

Azaghal, in business since 25 years, is one of the most robust bands in terms of Finnish black metal. This is no matter of course, because there is only one guy (Narqarth) who builds the firm backbone of the line-up. His comrades from 2002 have left the band, others came and went and so on. Nevertheless, some great records have been released under the banner of Azaghal; „Omega“, „Nemesis“, many more. I freely admit that „Of Beasts and Vultures“ is no candidate for their top five works, but certainly some of its songs are worth listening.

Slightly questionable is the raw sound. The guitars do not really have an organic touch. They do not sound bad, but one has to get used to it. Anyway, there are no serious deficits and I am happy that the precisely played double bass has the position it deserves. Thus, the carpet is rolled out for great songs and Narqarth and his companions do not hesitate to perform their own material. Too bad that they also could not resist the temptation of adding a Bathory cover. It is impossible to make the songs of „In the Sign of the Black Mark“ better than they are on the original album. But that’s not all – Azaghal’s version of „13 Candles“ is surprisingly weak, lame and powerless. It’s almost a desecration of this classic.

Either way, their self-composed titles show more fury, more courage and more aggression. But apart from these more or less predictable attributes, the band has also integrated virtually experimental elements. The first three songs demonstrate this. „Helwettiläinen“ surprises with a long atmospheric parts with foaming waves. „Welho“ is not only a demonstration of total destruction, but houses very sick singing and a dreamy, drug-imbued segment as well. Finally, „Reign“ delivers avant-garde vocals (and, by the way, fantastic riffing). Brutality is an important ingredient, especially in „Reign“, but it is not the only one. Despite or exactly because of this fact we get high quality stuff from the Finns.

The experimental or at least variable side of Azaghal shimmers through the next song as well. The solid “Kaikki elävä kuihtuu” houses a nearly absurdly mild part. After this track, unfortunately we are entering the problematic zone. It is not only the meaningless intermezzo on the sixth position, although this number already kills the flow of the album. More annoying is that the following tracks cannot compete with the first four songs. They fall victim to their incoherence (“Peto – 666”) or appear half-finished (“Verenjano”). The shortcomings of the output’s second half are the reason why “Of Beasts and Vultures” only sees the rear lights of the most thrilling Azaghal records. Anyway, the album also shows that the line-up from that period did not lack potential. It seems rather as if the band was not able to channel its numerous ideas in a song-friendly manner. A venial sin, but it has an impact on the overall impression.

Three years in music are a quite long time. During this time many things can change but Azaghal seems don’t care and this band returns with the always good and schizophrenic black metal. Azaghal is for sure one of the most original bands ever come out in the new millennium and that was not that easy, considering the quantity of the black metal acts around. By the way, maybe the only thing that changed is the production. We could already notice an improvement on this section on the previous Helvetin Yhdeksän Piiriä album and now also the slipcase of my personal copy is a sign of a stronger importance by this band for the image.

They are always black metal and they are always incredibly personal in doing it but they grew up and that’s normal. Aside the production, also the technical level is remarkable is growth. Mustamaa was a furious mixture of punk and black metal and that was great for its originality. Here, on the new album Of Beasts and Vultures, the band continued its way to a far faster and more polished sound in order to keep always high the extremism and they partially achieved the goal. “The Infernal One” has easily recognizable riffs while the drumming is always on blast beats. The various stops by the instruments let the atmosphere come out and there are always strange noises. The band sounds cold, glacial and sharp.

The guitars tune is really demonic and the arpeggios are something distant, melodic but extremely dark. Even if it’s difficult to mix so different parts, they are never attached with rawness and mediocrity, but with style and competence. The vocals are far more personal than the ones in most of the other black metal bands. They are not that different and they always remain on shrieks but the timbre and the suffered, infernal peaks are hard to match. It’s hard to describe them due to their versatility and we can easily find far more growlish parts like on the following “Wizard”. The tempo is always fast and the atmosphere is cold. The mid-paced sections are always full of strange and ritualistic lead lines to sustain also clean vocals parts.

“Reign” is great for the main thrash/punk/black riff but it’s obscene for the distorted, mechanical vocals. The rest of the song is always fast and with a good atmosphere, as we go on with “All Life Withers”. This track is mostly mid-paced and that’s good after those songs-bullets. The band is quite good at this and the distorted, more dissonant riffs are very good to sustain a darker atmosphere. The arpeggios are always here and the air turns to be colder during those parts. The title track is made of the sound of cold winds, few keyboard parts and the howling of the wolves. “The Beast-666” is again incredibly fast but it’s nothing outstanding and the stop and go are signs of the more thrash/death evolution. The second part is slow, massive and weird.

“I Am the Way” is darker by the beginning and the tempo is not fast. The arpeggios are alternated to the heavier riffs to restart in power. Here the tempo is clearly faster and the riffs are always on balance between the classic black with hints of thrash metal. To be sincere, while the album is continuing, the tracks are not that astonishing. They remain on goodish levels but nothing more. However, some overtures are worth of a mention for coldness and the veiled melodies. “Bloodthirst” is completely thrash/black and we return to higher levels also because the influences go back to the great Mustamaa. “Epilogue” is atmospheric, calm and melodic. The sounds are really catchy and dreaming.

“13 Candles” is a good cover but nothing can compete with the original, obviously. It’s mid-paced, evil and really old school for the structures, while the last track is a hidden one and it’s made of just few noises to add atmosphere. Overall, Azaghal has grown in technique and style but they lost a bit that primitivism the sound deserved to be really brutal. Sometimes, the album lacks of stand out parts but conserve a quite good songwriting from the beginning till the end. The coldness and the sharpness of the production are remarkable too.

Azaghal has always been one of my favourite finnish bm-bands. No release (except "Kyy"-MCD) hasn't been a disappointment for me.

And neither is "Of Beasts And Vultures" a disappointment. From the first seconds this album blasts in with inhuman blasting and furious vocals. Narqath and Varjoherra and vkhaoz ( :F ) on drums knows how to create a hateful and raging atmosphere. Bass isn't that audible in this album, but who cares about the bass.

The songs are a lot more technical than in previous Azaghal-releases, but that doesn't ruin the soul of a dedicated ug-fanatic like me. Occasional guitár-solos don't bother me that much in this album. Usually they do, when I'm talking about BM.

(Note : the songname translations are my interpretations, not official)

Song 1. "Helwettiläinen"
"I was born... To murder ". Starts off with a stolen sample from some movie, I guess. Soon Varjoherra begtins to scream and the mayhem begins. Blasts for the first few seconds, stops for a moment to listen to someone's heartbeat, then blasting all the way till the end. Great stuff.

Song 2. "Welho" (= "Wizard")
From the first second it's just pure blasting. Nice riffing by Nrq, but nothing new. The lyrics concern about cosmic stuff and the sun. Errhm.

Song 3. "Reign" (= "Reign", you stupid idiots)
Sounds like a rock-song from the beginning. Continues with pointless space-effect-vocals. That boringness lasts for a few seconds, then comes the blasting, then the space-vocals again. The most boring song of the album. Too technical to be "black metal", in my opinion.

Song 4. "Kaikki Elävä Kuihtuu" ("All Living Withers")
A slower song, nice riffage by Nrq once again. Nothing new though. Stupid solos in the middle and the end of the song. Otherwise very good low-tempo black metal. Needs more UG-spirit (= less solos, more blasting ;)

Song 5. "Of Beasts And Vultures"
Symphonic interlude. Nothing to say.

Song 6. "Peto 666" ("The Beast 666")
Nice and fast song. Just like the others. The reason why I hate this, is that stupid shotfun-sample in the middle of the song. Ugh.

Song 7. "Minä Olen Tie" ("I Am The Way")
The BEST song of this album. Starts off slowly and teasing... Soon evolves into black metal mayhem with full blasting. HIGHLY recommended. Good guitar work by Nrq. "I am the way..."

Song 8. "Verenjano" ("Bloodthirst")
Rock'ish work by Azaghal again. Not so great, hehe. Sounds like Venom. Some blasting parts included. More thrash than black.

Song 9. "Epilogue"
Acoustic interlude.

Song 10. "13 Candles"
Bathory-cover. For those who like Bathory, I don't. Slower and doomier stuff. No blasts here.

Song 11. "Untitled" (Hidden track?)
Strange noises. Some speech with no sense. Pointless.

Overall, a very good black metal-album, with technical points. Nice stuff.