Pure Negativity

Finnish black metal has a tendency to revel in very underground spirit when it comes to sound quality and execution of instruments, but recent years have provided a plentiful of bands that are one level higher on technicality, tightness and overall modernity. Graveborne's debut album Pure Negativity is among those albums that, instead of an utterly raw sound and primitive attitude, prefers to keep things rather clean.

Not that there's a lack of aggressiveness: it doesn't take more than the first track ”Metamorphosis” to kick in when you realize that you're in for a swift ride of Dark Funeral and Marduk esque blast beats and tremolo fires. Soon after I'm also sensing a presence of Keep of Kalessin, just a less melodic version of it. The second track ”Nocturnal” belongs to my favourities of the bunch as it includes some subtle melancholy in one of the main riffs, though I'm not yet sure what to think of the track's outro section, that chugging rhythm kind of takes me back to bands like Chimaira...

As easily happens with albums of this style, at least in my opinion, stagnation starts to plague the album the closer you get towards its end. Starting from around the middle of the album, I'm no longer able to differentiate the tracks properly, no matter that I've given them a fair amount of spins before writing a word. Good riffs appear every now and then of course – for example on ”Aokigahara” there's that fantastic, epic one (how much can a band actually sound like Alghazanth?) and I can't deny the power of acoustic guitars on ”Dark Matter” - but there's nothing majorly impressive that would hold my grip firmly on the album.

For a debut effort, Pure Negativity is incredibly played as well as produced, as the whole package reeks of professionalism. Definitely a well done album that just, to my ears, sounds a bit too familiar and safe to evoke any big feelings. Put it in the background and I'll never find the album harassing, but for repeated, focused listenings? Nah, I'd slowly grow tired of it. Bonus points, however, for the lyrics that are certainly worth a read, and cover art that deserves more than just a fast glance.

3 / 5
[ http://www.vehementconjuration.com/ ]

As you may have noticed, I can be pretty harsh toward some of the bands that give me review copies of their albums. As a rule, I'm not easily impressed and I don't cut anybody any slack just because they're unsigned or on a tiny label I've never heard of before. I pick the nits, so you can be sure it means something when I tell you Finland's Graveborne fucking rocks.

When I say "rock", I don't mean they're playing some kind of black 'n' roll, because they don't. It's pure, aggressive black metal without prefix or suffix, but they do it with such style and such memorable riffs that they can only be compared to the two hardest-rocking, modifier-free black metal bands out there: Immortal and Watain.

Graveborne establish this basic, high-energy approach to black metal from the outset. Opener "Metamorphoses" doesn't start with some pansy orchestral intro, but immediately crushes skulls. Throughout the album you can hear picking techniques or strange rhythms that could have been pulled from At the Heart of Winter. Yes, that comparison implies a strong recommendation. It's not dug quite as deep, but it's in the same graveyard.

The Verdict: Pure Negativity commands your attention, sticks in your head, and keeps you coming back for more. This is some very cool black metal in a traditional mold.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/

The recent trend amongst younger black metal acts going under the basic label (as opposed to the more descriptive melodic, symphonic or ambient variations) has been a mixture of adherence and abandonment of the roots of the style. Generally, the principle thing that is avoided is the low-fi, frosty production quality that resides somewhere between the analog rawness of early Bathory and the early Teutonic trio releases. Nevertheless, apart from a tendency towards highlighting the death and thrash metal influences a bit more, somewhat along the same lines of middle era Cradle Of Filth (minus the keyboard and Gothic tendencies), much of the original spirit is still being maintained, and thus comes a new act from the frostbitten nation of Finland in Graveborne to offer their take on things.

"Pure Negativity" is a very well chosen title for this beast of an album, as it brilliantly captures a sort of niche middle ground between agony and rage from one song to the next. The band isn't outright technical in their approach to the point of ripping out epic solos along the lines of Immortal's latter day releases, but the songs contained on this raving celebration of darkness are fairly complex in comparison to the minimalist tendencies of most renowned 2nd wave acts and a good chunk of the current crowd that doesn't dabble in the progressive side-stream that Enslaved picked up on. A shining example is the long-winded "Dark Matter" with a host of wild tremolo melodies and thrashing yet still largely melodic twists, all of which are able to punch through a steady stream of double bass fury with ease. The only thing that is really plain about this song is a somewhat predictable mixture of garbled mutters and screams that mostly resembles Pest's earlier works with Gorgoroth.

For a band that deals in a fairly standard arrangement, ergo lacking atmospheric keyboards and other depth-synthesizing studio elements, these Finns do a fair job in mixing things up and accomplishing a misty atmosphere to contrast with what is a fairly raw and brutal principle sound. "Sinister Moon" is among the better examples of this versatility, particularly during the closing moments where the guitars sort of mellow out into a restful, sorrowful wail that is fairly reminiscent of a receding blizzard before a pristine yet chilling calm. This is in contrast to the meaner and more percussive "Sacrilegious" which takes a few cues from the style's death and thrash roots, while still managing to sneak in a hint of agonizing woe amongst what is otherwise more of an ode to winter warfare.

As best as can be summed up, this comes off as a better version of the attempt at semi-modern stylistic nuance that King Ov Hell and Shagrath put together just last year in the project bearing the former's name. Overall it is still a conventional black metal album, but it throws in a lot of changes and varying material to keep the overall flavor interesting. The potential for some truly great albums is definitely in this band's future, though there are a few things that could be developed a bit more, particularly in the vocal department, to make them even more distinctive. It rests somewhere between being a worthy listen and an essential one, for what it's worth.