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/:: Artist :: Havohej ::\
:: Album :: Dethrone the Son of God ::
:: Year :: 2022 ::
:: __ _ _ __ ::
-:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:-
:: \ / ::
:: . Genre :: Black Metal Source :: CDDA . ::
:: Label :: Medieval Archives R.date :: 15.03.2022 ::
_::__ Cat.nr. :: Archive001 Size :: 53,0 MB __::_
::// \\::
::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\::
:: ::
/: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\
..: Bitrate :: avg. 260kbps : .
. Quality :: 44,1kHz/Joint-Stereo .
. .
Website ::
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: 01. Spilling Holy Blood 02:09 ::
:: 02. Final Hour of Christ 01:50 ::
:: 03. Weeping in Heaven 02:12 ::
:: 04. I Arose 04:58 ::
:: 05. Heavenly Father 02:36 ::
:: 06. Once Removed Savior 03:27 ::
:: 07. Raping of Angels 02:31 ::
:: 08. The King of the Jews 01:06 ::
:: 09. Behold the Prince of Peace 01:43 ::
:: 10. Holy Blood Holy Grail 01:02 ::
:: 11. Fucking of Sacred Assholes 01:01 ::
:: 12. Nazarene Decomposing 01:36 ::
:: 13. Dethrone the Son of God 01:56 ::
:: ------- ::
.. >> 28:07 min ..
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
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/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: ::
:: Havohej, along with Von, is America's Burzum in a way: ::
:: they've influenced tons of other, later black metal bands ::
:: and they've respectively set a groundwork for unique styles ::
:: of black metal, but despite this very few attempted clone ::
:: bands actually end up sounding very much like the originals ::
:: at all. This is likely because, despite the relative ::
:: minimalism and simplicity of composition that defines the ::
:: work of all the mentioned bands, their willingness to step ::
:: outside the predefined notions of what black metal should ::
:: be is what defined them and makes them unique in comparison ::
:: to those who are crafting black metal 'on purpose'. Much in ::
:: the same way that Skepticism and Thergothon set the ::
:: template for funeral doom and were immediately ignored in ::
:: favor of slowed-down My Dying Bride, these bands still ::
:: stand out as relative islands of uniqueness in a sea where ::
:: all the water looks like all the other water but rarely the ::
:: sand itself. ::
:: ::
:: Havohej essentially took the Von style of ultra-raw, ::
:: minimalist black metal and added a heap of death metal ::
:: technique to it; while this is a black metal album in ::
:: aesthetic and overall delivery and construction, a huge ::
:: amount of influence from death metal can be found in the ::
:: strictly atonal tremolo riffing. Most of the riffs on ::
:: 'Dethrone The Son Of God' would be much more comfortable on ::
:: a Deicide release than just about anything coming out of ::
:: Europe at this time, and the almost confrontational lack of ::
:: catchiness of logical melody is one of the central facets ::
:: of what makes this such an unusual album. Apart from a ::
:: handful of forays into slow, doomy territory, the tremolo ::
:: riffs are composed in a haphazard, seemingly random ::
:: fashion, with collections of notes that don't particularly ::
:: seem to join with each other in any way. There's a couple ::
:: possibilities to this: either they are completely random, ::
:: just there to provide a layer of amelodic noise ala ::
:: Mortician, or, more likely, they're deliberately composed ::
:: in such a fashion as to reject all 'normal' music. ::
:: ::
:: Drums play a fairly minimal set of beats but are spiced up ::
:: through rhythmic variation via fills and accents; Ledney is ::
:: clearly an actual drummer rather than a guitarist who ::
:: happens to play drums. The very forward drum production ::
:: draws attention to the unusually high level of skill found ::
:: in the rhythmic department for such a generally raw album, ::
:: and although the timing isn't flawless, the musicality of ::
:: the drumming is excellent and helps keep the listener's ::
:: attention where they might have strayed with a less dynamic ::
:: performance. The vocals, which many draw a lot of attention ::
:: to, are likely the least outstanding part of the whole ::
:: album; they're extremely dry and painful-sounding and with ::
:: adequate power, but don't come off with quite the level of ::
:: existential weirdness that the rest of the album does. ::
:: ::
:: The production on this isn't great; it's mostly the guitar ::
:: tone which is the problem, sounding rubbery and somewhat ::
:: weak in the higher registers where the riffs tend to ::
:: predominantly dwell, and the drums are probably louder than ::
:: they should be, but none of this really takes away from the ::
:: essential craziness of the release. The short, violent, ::
:: almost grindlike songs aren't particularly remarkable on ::
:: their own, but when assembled into the fairly nonstop, ::
:: inorganic package of this album, they gain a new sort of ::
:: significance; each one is really a chapter of an anti- ::
:: Christian whole rather than anything relevant on its own. ::
:: Though apparently a number of these tracks are rerecorded ::
:: or unreleased Profanatica tracks, that band never seemed ::
:: quite as inhuman as Havohej does, and though stylistic ::
:: similarities exist, it would still be safe to say there's ::
:: nothing in the black metal scene that greatly resembles ::
:: this release. ::
:: ::
:: None of this answers the essential question, though, of ::
:: whether it's a worthwhile listen, probably because that's a ::
:: much more complicated prospect. It's not particularly ::
:: enjoyable music; it keeps your attention more through ::
:: morbid fascination rather than through a desire to hear ::
:: more riffs, and the utterly inverted nature of this music ::
:: seems to inspire more tension than satisfaction. That being ::
:: said, it's remarkable in its own right and probably a very ::
:: good example of what black metal's spirit and overall ::
:: attitude 'should' be than most other things. Certainly it's ::
:: of historical importance, and I do listen to it a fair bit, ::
:: but it's difficult for me to recommend this as I would ::
:: another album. I suppose you should pick this up without ::
:: the expectation of actually liking it, and you may never ::
:: like it at all. But though you may not like it, you'll ::
:: certainly, after a lot of time listening to black metal, ::
:: have a certain appreciation for it which seems to go well ::
:: beyond what most albums are able to achieve. ::
:: ::
:: . _ _ . ::
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