Transcendence

One hell of an album this one turned out to be! The band have kept their trademark sound but managed to develop it further. Although obviously still influenced by latter-era Burzum when it comes to the riffing, “Transcendence” is much more than a Burzum copy. Flame of War take their style a bit further on this album and come into their own. I must state right away that I can’t understand the choice of cover picture for this album: the sun shining through the trees of a summery forest? This doesn’t fit the music at all. You see, the music is cold and quite epic. Therefore, a picture of a majestic dark winter landscape would have been the perfect cover. There of course tons of BM albums with that type of cover but here’s one more that would need it.

I’d say the production on “Transcendence” is as clean as it can be without becoming overproduced. The cold sounding guitars are powerful, the bass well-audible and the drum machine (which sounds good) a bit too low in the mix. The drum machine does have enough power to cut through the mix but the sound is guitar dominated nonetheless. As for the vocals, well, they’ve changed since “Europa…”. The barked/growled vocals have been substituted by higher pitched screamy ones that are more typically black metal and sound like they’ve been put through some kind of effect. The vocals suit the cold music, they are harsh in an almost emotionless and “mechanical” way.

The three tracks featured on this album are really long but they are also very good. The riffs are excellent and hypnotic and really manage to spellbind me. All three tracks have relatively simple structures despite their lengths. Most of the album is mid-paced or slow but occasionally the music speeds up too. Even though some parts are repeated for quite long, the transition to the next part of the track always occurs before I start to get bored. That’s the beauty of this type of BM, the ability to create long songs that keep the listener interested even though the tracks themselves aren’t overly complicated or contain tons of different parts. Flame of War really succeeds in this respect and the length of the tracks makes this achievement all the more impressive. If you already enjoy albums like e.g. “Hvis Lyset tar Oss”, “Suicidal Emotions” and “Jahreszeiten” you know what I’m talking about. When listening to these types of albums the mood and atmosphere have to be just right. Most of this album is actually instrumental, as the lyrics on all the tracks are sparse. The first two tracks have only two verses in them each and “Fate” has three.

Synths are used here and there and sometimes they seem to be playing low notes, which makes them blend in with the overall sound (thereby making it thicker), instead of distinguishing themselves by doing something totally different than the other instruments. The title track and “Fate” have parts during which a cello seems to be playing. I suppose it’s sampled but it sounds authentic to me.

Aside from the metal parts there are some calm moments too, like e.g. beginning of the title track: a long slow-paced passage of clean guitars slowly building up the momentum, then an electric guitar (playing a solo) joining in and finally the black metal starting with cold burzumic riffing that sends shivers up my spine. The feeling is intensely transcendental; the music transports me to worlds beyond. In the middle of this track there’s another calm part, where the guitar plays a simple melody together with the synth for a while. After this melancholic riffs come in, taking the listener further on his/her journey. Build-ups are also used on the other two tracks. “Unity” starts slowly with distorted guitars but these fade away quite soon and a long clean guitar part ensues before the black metal kicks in. “Fate” starts with distorted guitars playing sad riffs for almost four minutes before the song really gets going. However, this track also has a long clean guitar part right in the middle of it. With only three tracks, yet a playing time reaching almost an hour, “Transcendence” is by all accounts a massive album in its genre. You cannot listen to it “just a little”, it demands your full attention.

Ok, here’s the deal; I don’t care much for involving politics in a genre like black metal, and hence I don’t care for NSBM or that RABM (red and anarchist black metal) thingie that seems to be popping up. To me that’s not what black metal is about, but that’s a too big of an issue to deal with, let’s just say I don’t really want anything to do with either side of the matter. I had never heard of Flame of War previous to receiving this album, and so of course I looked them up. My antipathy was somewhat instant when I read they want to be labeled as “aryan black metal”; not much of a difference compared to NSBM in my book. But hey, I haven’t set any ground rules for promotion material, and I’ve always said I’d review whatever is sent to me, so here we go…

One of the first things I noticed with "Transcendence" were the length of the songs, ranging from 15 minutes to 26 minutes. In my judgmental state of mind I instantly thought this would be some sort of suicidal black metal, ‘cause that’s usually when you’ll find such lengthy songs. But I was greatly mistaken as what I found was extremely atmospheric and melancholic, but sans any of that annoying howling.

The title track is from start to finish the strongest tune on here. It starts off with several minutes of very melancholic guitar work, and I get some minor flashbacks to some older Ancient Wisdom material. Jeez, the melodic guitar line that sets in is magnificent, and the moody atmosphere is conflicting as I can’t help but to feel a certain groove in such saddened riffing. But as soon as the vocals step in a touch of hatred flares up. The vocals are unlike anything I’ve heard in black metal before. It sounds suppressed in some way, darker and gnarlier than screams, almost as if he’s slowly giving a spiteful speech.

The recipe for all three songs is pretty much the same; slow, melancholic guitars followed by a sped up section only to be slowed down once again. I really enjoy it, no doubt about it, but I still can’t help myself finding the songs quite similar. It is an extremely atmospheric album with the coldness of the riffing, all while the harsh vocals give it a very brutal edge. Imagine a faster Nae’blis on a military excursion.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net