Following the progress of Black Metal from its church-burning neo-Nazi inception in Scandinavia in the 90’s is one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Tangled up in the white supremacist fantasies of psychotic unironic Satan worshipping chronic masturbators, Black Metal still faces controversies and backlash today for its shock aesthetic and unsavoury links to the far-right. All this despite a large proportion of the bands incorporating elements of the sub-genre into their sound renouncing the socio-political stances of their forbears focussing more on the imagery and the gritty, harsh sound associated with the older acts.
More importantly the genre has progressed sonically into all sorts of offshoots and evolutionary threads, few being as important in this regard as Germany’s Dark Fortress. Formed in the mid-90’s the band found its stride in the early 2000’s with the addition of main composer V.Santura (Tryptikon, Noneuclid) and later vocalist Morean (Noneuclid, Alkaloid).
Using black metal as a core, Dark Fortress emphasise diversity through progressive tangents and melody to create on Spectres From the Old World a record brimming with unique ideas and oozing atmosphere like an overstuffed tar burrito. The overarching cosmic narrative and cold, bleak themes synonymous with the genre are woven through each track with impeccable attention to detail.
Raw hard hitters like the title track balance out the proggy and doomier elements in Isa and ‘Pali Aike’, the catchy single-esque quality of ‘Pulling at threads’ neatly complimented by the riff laden ‘The Spider in the Web’. More straight forward metal tracks like ‘In deeper times’ sit conformably with extended endeavours like ‘Swansong’ and the Triptykon inspired latin choiral closer ‘Nox Irae’. Ambient leads and ripping solos co-exist in harmony with proggy leads and in-your-face riffing, Morean’s extensive vocal repertoire and Phenex’s sonically captivating orchestrations rounding off the Dark Fortress soundscape.
All in all Spectres from the old world is a lesson in what black metal can be when in the hands of exceptional composers unafraid to push the boundaries of the genre. 9/10
