By: Anders

Posted: Sep 18, 2005

I've heard quite a bit about this Swedish band, before I heard the actual music from them. This is the first material I have heard with Blot Mine, besides a single track a while back. It didn't really catch on back then, but after having given this new album an insanely amount of spins, I've got quite hooked on their cosmic black metal extravaganza.

The compositions are huge cold paintings of mysticism. The music invokes a cold and eerie atmosphere, using melodic and great riffing, cold black metal inspired melodies and thundering drums. The vocals are harsh screams, filled with hatred and frustration, spewing forth wisdom and thoughtfulness. The lyrical side of Blot Mine is profound and supplies some interesting reading. The pages of "Matters Of Matter", where the band explains about their ideology and approach to the world and the music is really good as well.

It is quite tough to get in beneath the music at times. At first the music seems quite straight forward with resemblances to Marduk and Dark Funeral at times, in terms of speed and use of melodies. At other times the music gets really complex, the speed slows down, and one gets sucked into the swirling moments of the moving atmospheres. A good example of such a moment is the instrumental closer 'Bolted Down (And Dying)' an amazing piece of art. Though many of the other tracks contain glimpses of the same. All in all are the compositions pretty varied, and shows that the band has some good songwriters, which both draws influence from older Nordic black metal bands, and other more original sources.

This is one of the better and most interesting takes on black metal I have heard in a while. A great combination of old and new, melted into a hard hitting wholesome, gripping the listener and supplies a craving for more. Not only the music gives food for thoughts, the same does the lyrics. This is not your usual black metal band, even though there are bits and pieces that bring forth nostalgia. This album has to be heard if you are into black metal, no doubt about that Blot Mine soon will become one of the leading bands within the genre.

Rating: 8½/10

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