Kosmos wardhin dræpas om sin / Emptiness Enthralls

First of all I gotta say that this split was a great idea. Two of Sweden’s most obscure bands teaming up.

Contamino has probably got quite a bright future ahead of them (at least in the underground) - fast and raw as hell black metal. I’ve never read any of their lyrics, but I did read an interview with one of these guys. A true hatred for mankind seems to glow in their eyes, and with a yearning for mans extinction, how can their message not rock? Hehe. Nah, but seriously. This is really grim and truly excellent. There’s also an outro here that would make any sane person kill him/herself - extremely haunting!

Arckanum is a fairly big name in the underground. Some full lengths and splits out since before. This song differs a bit from the rest, I think. It’s not as fast, and the vocals are a little more sane, as he can sound quite nuts. Very harsh black metal.
This is just a killer split. Two excellent bands, extremely haunting. The production’s great on both sides - raw, but without giving it a crappy sound. And the artwork is also something to commend, very stark!

Originally written for www.mylastchapter.net

In the ever so crowded scene of anything that goes under the general definition of "Black Metal", it's somewhat relieveing to discover that, in the Twenty-first Century, there are still bands that actually strive to create something of their own, rather than falling into the well known categories of either Hellhammer / Darkthrone / Bathory worship / plagiarism or more or less listenable and "commercial" sound. Many things, both good and bad, can be said about Sweden's Contamino, but one thing is for sure: these guys refuse any kind of conformism of the Black Metal kind. Actually, the definition of Black Metal itself hardly describes what Contamino's music is all about in this short release, named "Emptiness Enthralls", which comes as a limited split 7" vinyl with Arckanum, with whom Contamino share the background and label.

The EP opens with the short "Fallen One Arise", a collage of contrasting moods compressed in less than two minutes: a classic blasting kick off, a more thrashy section and a slower finale. Komm. Richard's vocals stray from the path of Black Metal shrieks, as the man uses very deep dethy grunts; even the guitars, despite the fuzzy sound, aren't as trebly as most Black Metal releases.
Next comes the title track, an uptempo riff feast with more thrashy drum patterns and buzzsaw guitars, the longest (a bit more than 3 minutes) and most memorable track of the lot. It even features a kind of catchy *gasp* riff in the chorus.
The EP closes with an ambient-ish outro named "Enslavement", which some might discard as unnecessary but actually grows onthe listeners after a few spins with its sinister atmosphere that really fit's the band's apocalyptic war concepts.

What we have here is a solid, albeit short, release of a very interesting manifestation of the North European Metal Underground. If you have a chance to check this out (it seems to be quite rare already) don't pass it by without a listen or two.