Ohtar "Petrified Breath Of Hope" LP Vinyl

Black vinyl, limited to 500 copies.

Ohtar is one of the best and most extreme Polish black metal bands that were formed in the mid 90s. Right from the beginning they have played their own brand of hateful and extreme yet melancholic black metal. In Necro Ohtar also have one of the best vocalists in the genre. Not only is his style instantly recognisable, he is also able to convey anger and sadness convincingly. Necro’s black metal vocals aren’t that high pitched and actually sound all the more powerful for that reason. Aside from the black metal vocals Necro also uses some growls to spice things up and these work well too. For this album the band have managed to get quite a powerful sound. If you’re looking for that thin and distorted all-treble-no-bass type of black metal sound, “Petrified Breath of Hope” will not fulfil your demands. Speaking of bass, it is very prominent here – practically just as loud as the guitars.

Musically I’d describe “Petrified Breath of Hope” as being pretty much in the vein of Thor’s Hammer’s “Three Weeds from the Same Root” mixed with the good old Ohtar style, i.e. furious yet with some melodic riffs as well. These melodic riffs are unconventional and morbid though, no “melodeath niceness” can be found in them. Unlike Thor’s Hammer, Ohtar do not use any synths. As a whole, the material on this album is a bit more advanced and varied than on previous releases but do not worry, this hasn’t affected the music negatively. The music emits strong vibes of intolerance and non-compromise and makes it clear that good black metal is still being made in the underground if one only bothers to look for it. Beside the fast parts Ohtar also slows down every now and then to give us some calm clean guitar parts. Tracks like “Poison Me Samaritan”, “Fog Imbued with the Smell of Death” and “Insomnia” make good use of clean guitar parts, as these add a tranquil yet dark atmosphere to the proceedings.

The opening riff of “Elite? Dust (Sometime...)” reminds me of one of Ohtar’s best songs ever, “Song of War”, and the same riff also occurs later in the song. The lyrics of the track in question show that Necro still holds his politically incorrect views - the empire of white power is still on his mind. The steady mid-tempo the track is played in only accentuates its power. “Honour and Faithfullness” is another catchy track. It starts off with the heaviest riff on the album and also contains some manic fast parts as well as those morbid melodies I spoke of earlier. “Light Manacled in Shackles of Ice” is the most aggressive track with its relentless speed and Necro screaming out his hatred as if he were possessed. The last chord of “Insomnia” has barely faded before the title track already begins. It is an instrumental guitar piece, which continues the Ohtar tradition of placing one guitar instrumental on every release (the only exception so far being “When I Cut the Throat”). As I said, if you’re a fan of Capricornus/Thor’s Hammer and haven’t checked this band out yet, now is the time to do so. In general “Petrified Breath of Hope” will satisfy everyone who demands his or her hateful black metal with a capital H.

Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=9UxnKWMdbbc&t=14s