First album self released!!!
I know next to nothing of this band. They are from Czech. They play Black Metal. They have one release out. More cannot be found. No Myspace site, no entry at a label-site, no homepage. Also no line-up, no info whatsoever where the album was recorded and even not how many copies of it have been distributed. This very release appeared suddenly out of the nowhere and its quality is just astounding.
The music of Kult Ofenzivy is Black Metal how it was meant to be played in the early days of this genre. Expect no keyboards, no complex arrangements, no solo-like parts and all this modern crap which was woven into it since the mid of the nineties. Guitars, bass and drums are used on this album and nothing more; also sound samples are spared out. Together they are able to create an atmosphere which leaves high hopes of the things to come by this band. Excellent song-writing can be examined on this record and a level of catchiness can be perceived in the songs which a lot of bands would find too tough to topple.
Kult Ofenzivy’s music is pretty bass-less. Neither the bass-drum nor the bass-guitar is able to give the music some power, but the music does not necessarily need these elements. Dominating are the vocals and their dark murmur-like sound is compensating the absence to bass to a good deal. The music relies on the dark atmosphere which is created through them and somehow their vanishing is lethal to a song for instance; the last track of Symfonie Oceli is an instrumental and the weak spot of the album, as the lack of vocals cannot be compensated in any way. Furthermore and not very surprisingly, as it can be examined on a variety of other releases from different genres, is the attempt of singing too much text in a short period of time subpar, Právem na¨ím. It is an aspect which can be (could have been) prevented in the first place by adjusting the lyrics to the tempo and rhythm or re-writing them entirely. Being limited to merely one track and rather in the way that the vocals tend to be rather like some kind of talking and not singing, the negative impact on the music is quite minimal.
Yet with the previous paragraph not all aspect of the here performed vocals have been entirely covered. Beside the dependence on them in order to create an atmosphere, they are also, from a different point of view, something like an outstanding characteristic of Kult Ofenzivy. Unlike a lot of BM bands, the style of the vocals is not (high) screams or the like, but instead the exact contrary is offered here. A combination of murmuring and growling – think about Ares of Aeternus, but in a grimmer and darker style – gives the music a facet through which it gains some sort of outstanding note. The evil side, which often associated with Black Metal, can be felt through the way it is transported by the vocalist. Furthermore should be emphasized that the Czech lyrics work well with this kind of music and it can be doubted that English would have the same impact on Kult Ofenzivy’s art as their native language has. Zlo, another band from Czech, also use the language they have been born with, whereby the music gains some hard to explainable quality through this. Perhaps it is merely this out of the ordinary which makes music sung in a different tone different, but perhaps the phrases and words in a tongue work are actually able to create a ‘special’ atmosphere. Even though the vocals are an important factor, worthless would their performance be, would it not be for the instruments to a lay a sound foundation. Darkthrone is one band cited in the advertisements on several internet-sites and as the ‘general attempt’ seems to be to create old-school Black Metal, this reference is quite obvious and also not avoidable. Yet Kult Ofenzivy does not merely try to rip of one of the legendary bands. Their song-writing shows some neat ways on how to write good Black Metal, but trying to evolve it further. Monotonous riffs and repetition is often unavoidable, nevertheless it is possible to distract the listener a bit from this minimalist approach by using some variation on the motives in order to effect the whole composition. Especially the drums use this kind of approach to a good deal. Now a small additional cymbal ring was added, then the snare-drums break out of the monotony etc.… the music is never boring or dull, but fascinating to listen to, as the band is using the elements they have in a proper way: to grab the listener and to never let him loose again. Of course there is something which could be criticized, like the absence of bass, but the effect of this flaw on the music is too limited to emphasize it. Perhaps this is also rather due to an unbalanced production, as the vocals are quite in the foreground, while the drums and especially the bass-drums are in the background; the guitars are adequate and good produced, though.
To give a band a 90 point rating for a debut is mad in some respect. “Excellent” would be a fitting description for this kind of score in my rating system, yet I have no choice but to give it. Nothing else is appropriate in my opinion and my reluctance to give such high scores, because there is always something that could be and should be criticized, has to step back for this release. Even after several weeks this album has lost nothing of its quality and I will surely listen to it for a good deal in the future. Recommended to those in favour of old-school Black Metal and if someone favours this kind of particular style, this person cannot go wrong with this record.
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
