Rattenkönig "Conjuration Of Hate" CD

Descripción Limited to 500 copies.

Like Goatblood, with whom they share members Necropriest and Bloodoak, Australian BM horde (of two) Rattenkönig hail from Woodend, in the state of Victoria; and like Goatblood, not surprisingly perhaps, Rattenkönig play a raw yet melodic style of black metal. They've been ploughing their particular furrow since 2012, released two albums and a fair few other things including a split video with Goatblood and Blood Ritual (a side project of Necropriest's) but until now they never had much attention, at least not on this website. "Conjuration of Hate" is the band's second album.

Across the album, the songs are aggressive and energetic, Bloodoak and Necropriest going full tilt on guitars and drums. The production on the instruments is very clear and highlights the musicians' technical and composition skills. The final track, an instrumental piece, sounds very different from the rest of the album and might either have been intended to be ambient as it's slower and its sound is a little bristly and accordion-like. Songs like "Black Bile Vomit", "Hate Omen" and "Blood Perversions" have clear, even pop-catchy riffs and melodies. With a bare-bones instrumental set-up, the songs depend quite a lot on the raspy shouty vocals but these are set back in the mix (so the music dominates) and the lyrics aren't clear. So I don't have much clue as to what the songs are about though I figure from the track titles that the general subject matter involves exalting occult or Satanic ritual over established mainstream religions which the two members aren't overly fond of.

Listeners who like their black metal stripped down to basics, where it's just raw guitars and drums and a basic level of production that happens to throw emphasis onto technical musical skills, ability to compose good tunes and to keep up the flow of music with deft changes in key and melodies, should check out this recording.

Funnily, the more I play the album, the more poppy most parts of it seem to be ... I'd nominate these guys for that competition on the Gold Coast in February to choose Australia's entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest being held in Tel Aviv in Israel this year, if the nominations haven't yet closed. Scare and offend all the Christians, Jews, Muslims ... make Eurovision interesting again!

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq0ayavlhJ4