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Ravenzang is Vaal’s other project, existing alongside the one that already bears his pseudonym. They do have some slight differences musically, but otherwise they’re both pretty much your run-of-the-mill black metal projects in terms of presentation: scary-sounding pseudonyms, grainy black-and-white artwork and pictures, songs about hate/winter/evil, you get the idea. I find it a bit bemusing that the guy would start up another Norwegian second-wave black metal worship band to supplement his already-existing Norwegian second-wave black metal worship band, but I also don’t pretend to be privy to the thought processes of black metal musicians. I do happen to like this more than the Vaal album that also released this year, though, so I suppose the whole starting-up-a-new-but-practically-identical-band thing ended up working out after all?

Similar to how Vaal was basically Burzum worship, Ravenzang is Darkthrone worship, specifically of the Transilvanian Hunger variety; the songs here pretty much follow the same basic formula, with two or three riffs that occasionally alternate but otherwise endlessly repeat to create a kind of cold, hypnotic atmosphere. The band sounds like they’ve tried to polish up some of the less appealing aspects of that album; the production job is more restrained, sanding off some of the harshness of the original’s, and the drumming is also more varied; while all the songs move along at the same rigid mid-pace, Vaal employs a few more drum patterns than just the mid-paced blastbeats that the original album is known for. The riffs themselves aren’t half-bad either, retaining much of the Transilvanian Hunger sound and feel in their sweeping, melodic iciness. In fact, they copy Darkthrone so perfectly that this album sounds like it would fit perfectly in Darkthrone’s discography as a Transilvanian Hunger successor, and I think that’s worthy of some sort of commendation considering how many Darkthrone worship bands have attempted that exact feat and failed.

I think that where this album does fail is in its overall atmosphere, and that a lot of the fault lies in the production. I feel like Ravenzang wanted to allow the riffs to shine properly in the limelight, and so went with the quieter, more restrained production, but the songs end up lacking a lot of the hostility that Transilvanian Hunger had as a result. That album felt like you were getting battered sideways by a relentlessly pounding blizzard as you listened to it; this one feels more like you’re getting dusted by a light sprinkling of snow as you take a nice relaxing walk around the block. This could be mitigated somewhat if the riffs themselves had some fire to them, but they are a bit on the sedate side, and not quite interesting enough on their own to reel you in. The same problem exists with the vocals; Vaal’s substitute for Nocturno Culto’s cold snarl is the same generic, lazy rasp he uses in Vaal which is unquestionably inferior in ferocity. All these factors make the album come off as somewhat derivative, like the band members read a textbook detailing Transilvanian Hunger’s making and copied its methods down to the letter, but didn’t quite manage to capture the spark present in that album that really made it special.

It’s unfortunate, because with just a bit more inspiration and/or a bit of a rougher production I think this could be a really great album. It does have a certain charm that the Vaal album doesn’t (a bit ironic considering I like Burzum more than I do Darkthrone), so for now I find myself coming back to this one every now and then, which is something I definitely don’t do with Visioen. I tend to prefer a bit more bite to my black metal, though, so this probably isn’t an album I’d be revisiting in five years or so. But if you’re after a faithful reproduction of the Norwegian second-wave black metal sound, you could do far worse than this album.