By: Anders

Posted: Aug 30, 2005

After some years with a small void in the Norwegian black metal scene, the newer hordes have now started to make a lot of noise and are starting to get established. Slagmark was formed in 1998 and "Eradication" is the quintet's first full length album.

Dark melodic guitar riffs are lightning up the sky, as the music of Slagmark is moving forward. It isn't the most innovative riffs, but they to their job and drives the music forward and hooks the listener a bit. There is an old school thrashy edge to the basic riffs, on top of them the melodies, which brings some atmosphere, though they tend to be a bit boring.

The musicians in the band deliver what they have to do. They seem like good musicians and they play well together. The music seems pretty tight, without being crushing. The compositions are pretty straight forward, inspired by the old school hordes, with some technical parts and epic moments, taken from more up to date inspirational sources. They are catchy with swirling melodies and nice pace shifts. Though I miss some more variation between the songs, many of the songs starts to sound the same, when one gets half ways through the album. A colder, darker and more evil atmosphere would have done a lot for the music as well.

The production on the album is rather thin, but the instruments are well presented and the mix is okay, even though the drums might be a bit too loud at times. But the rest of the instruments come clearly through as well, if we look a side from the bass, but that isn't the biggest surprise. Though it's a really shame in this connection, considered when the bass once on a while shows itself, it sounds really good.

This is far from the most interesting black metal album out there right now. There are some interesting moments on the album, though it becomes to stale and repetitive during the 11 tracks, a shorter and more hard hitting album would have worked better in my opinion. But as said there are some interesting moments along the way and it will be interesting to follow the band, judging on this album they do have quite some potential, which I am sure will be released when they get more experience as songwriters. My favourite tracks on the album is the melodic and atmospheric 'Aeon Of Horus', the blasting 'Death Come Forth' and the hard hitting and aggressive 2 part last track 'Total War'.

Rating: 6/10

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