MONSTRAAT "Monstraat" 12"LP

From Metal Archives : New Polish label called Fallen Temple has debuted recently with quite surprising demo from the unknown, exhumed Norwegian band Skapt av Skog and here’s their second offering, this time spawned in Sweden. This band is called Monstraat. I won’t fool you… I didn’t know a shit about them until I got this CD with their debut album simply titled “Monstraat”. I don’t know if any of their two demos (“Beyond Angel Eyes” from 2009 and “Demo 2012”) were good at all and I will probably never know, seeing their very limited quantity. Anyway, here I am listening to “Monstraat” and damn… I feel very excited about this album and pleased that such new band like Monstraat was able to impress me with their take on classic (Norwegian like) black metal. And I write Norwegian black metal with full responsibility, as this album for me is a pure Norsk black metal worship, with Darkthrone in the front of attention. Obviously if Darkthrone was taking a lot of influence from the likes of Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Bathory, then these bands must have also been a major influence for Monstraat. But the whole feeling, riffing, vocals, production and atmosphere of the music of Monstraat reminds me Darkthrone from their mid era more than anything else. And if we say Darkthrone, then obviously we can also mention some other bands, which Darkthrone has influenced directly… like Pest, Urgehal, Armagedda, Taake and so on and on. “Monstraat” is quite diverse and so you’ll find here some songs, which are more like black’n’roll kind of thing, what will remind you such LPs as “Total Death” for instance or Pest from their recent LPs… “Come Fire, Come Flame”, “War Without End” are such kind of songs, which remind me that instantly and not only that, also such Taake and even Aura Noir! But then “Bone-Bleaching Sun” will be more like “Transilvanian Hunger” kind of fast, simple, raw black metal… and you know, it doesn’t really matter what it sounds like, as long as Monstraat play some killer riffs. And I can say that definitely this band managed to catch my attention and recorded several great tracks on their debut album. Along with those three, with I just mentioned I can recommend you such anthems like “The First Seed”… I like the production of “Monstraat”, which is harsh, obscure, but just perfect for this sort of black metal. Great guitar tone! Great vocals. These songs are not complicated, because they cannot be… they’re also not too long and maybe sometimes they’re even slightly too short, if they’re less than two minutes… I feel like such “Through Raging Spheres” is maybe less influential song, as not only it has more mediocre riffing, but also seems like unfinished and just too short. But who cares as long as the majority of this material is solid and truly possessing. And for me “Monstraat” definitely is, I just like such kind of raw, cold Nordic black metal. So, if you’re into this kind of music and some bands, which I mentioned above (mainly Darkthrone, Pest, Urgehal and Taake) then get “Monstraat” immediately, I can assure you that you’ll worship this album. I am impressed and really have listened to those Swedes quite a lot lately. Sure, it is nothing original, but good enough for me, it captured the right feeling, so I don’t need anything else. Standout tracks: “Come Fire, Come Flame”, “War Without End”, “Bone-Bleaching Sun”