Graveland-Necromanteion-Reissue-2023-BERC_iNT
NFO
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/:: Artist :: Graveland ::\
:: Album :: Necromanteion ::
:: Year :: 2023 ::
:: __ _ _ __ ::
-:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:-
:: \ / ::
:: . Genre :: Black Metal Source :: CDDA . ::
:: Label :: Hammer of Damnation R.date :: 2023.08.31 ::
_::__ Cat.nr. :: HOD268 S.date :: 2023.08.15 __::_
::// \\::
::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\::
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/: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\
..: Bitrate :: avg. 259kbps :..
. Quality :: 44.1kHz/Joint Stereo .
. Size :: 111.65 MB .
. .
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+/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+
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/:: ::\
:: 01. Intro - Necromanteion 03:02 ::
:: 02. Immortalem 05:55 ::
:: 03. The Quest 06:49 ::
:: 04. Outro 02:27 ::
:: 05. Opus Mysteries Nocturni (Instrumental) 01:38 ::
:: 06. Intro 01:17 ::
:: 07. Storm of Souls 06:33 ::
:: 08. Celts Ride over Graveland 02:49 ::
:: 09. Sword and Blood 05:27 ::
:: 10. Who Dies First? 03:52 ::
:: 11. Intro 02:48 ::
:: 12. Cathedral of Shadows 07:28 ::
:: 13. The Day of Samhain 05:26 ::
:: 14. Dark Visions 03:40 ::
:: ------- ::
.. >> 59:11 ..
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:: ::
:: Almost a historical artefact in itself, this Graveland demo ::
:: from 1992 at last saw release as an album on Forever Plagued ::
:: Records in 2009. I''m unfamiliar with Graveland''s recent ::
:: work but I hear the early material was less melodic and ::
:: folk-oriented and more influenced by early Norwegian black ::
:: metal acts like Darktrhone and Emperor. The titles on ::
:: "Necromanteion" suggest a them of a quest or search that may ::
:: involve contacts with the spirit world as well as war or ::
:: invasion which means lots of fighting and brave men dying ::
:: nobly in battle. There seem to be hints of rituals being ::
:: performed during some of these activities to ensure their ::
:: success and the enemy''s failure but it''s hard to tell when ::
:: the vocals are so gravelly and deep that they sound like ::
:: something conjured from rocks and boulders. Why would you ::
:: give such a creature the job of telling the story? But ::
:: that''s how the record goes. ::
:: ::
:: The black metal tends to be slow-paced and the mostly ::
:: plodding melodies seem primitive in structure with very long ::
:: drawn-out guitar notes. The tone of the guitar itself has a ::
:: raw tinny buzz like a low-pitched chainsaw or electric ::
:: drill. Drumming is mechanical, basic and repetitive so it''s ::
:: possible that at the time this was recorded there was just ::
:: the vocalist / guitarist Rob Darken himself in the band, ::
:: playing all the instruments and the drum machine as well. ::
:: But the real glory of the music is in the extra ::
:: instrumentation, effects, use of found sounds and ::
:: recordings, and pre-recorded voices that pad out the songs ::
:: and the way these are arranged though the joins are not ::
:: always very seamless. Some of the extra frills can be ::
:: cartoony like the galloping horse intro to "Celts Ride Over ::
:: Graveland" or the operatic soprano warbling that heralds ::
:: "Sword and Blood": both of these sound unconvincing and I ::
:: don''t think they''re necessary as intros, the rhythm of ::
:: "Celts Ride ..." being gallopy enough and "Sword and Blood" ::
:: being able to stand on its own but more of that later. On ::
:: the other hand we get a track like "The Quest" with its ::
:: synthesiser intro adding an exotic flavour suggesting travel ::
:: into foreign realms, the use of choral voices lending a ::
:: sense of holy mission to the topic and the unexpected left- ::
:: field coda which is a spacey ambient piece of pure tone, ::
:: percussion and rumble-in-the-dark improv: a spine-chilling ::
:: other-worldly mini-drama in itself. ::
:: ::
:: The best tracks include "Opus Mysteries Nocturni, a short ::
:: instrumental made up of mechanical drones, a bit like a ::
:: clock running down and revealing all its workings as it does ::
:: so but I think the highlight of the album is "Sword and ::
:: Blood" for its distinctive clangy if very robotic percussion ::
:: rhythm which suggests that Darken could have taken Graveland ::
:: into a lite-industrial direction (though of course this ::
:: wouldn''t have suited the band''s lyrical interests). True, ::
:: the guitars and vocals here are not exactly inspiring in ::
:: comparison but that rhythm completely dominates the track ::
:: and drives it so it more than compensates for the rest of ::
:: the music. ::
:: ::
:: Graveland fans will want to check this recording out to see ::
:: how Darken was writing and recording songs in those early ::
:: days (nearly 20 years ago - amazing but true) and compare ::
:: "Necromanteion" with later recordings to see how much the ::
:: band has progressed or changed. Nearly every track here has ::
:: an intro that may include a field recording and which is ::
:: completely different from the rest of the song. The intros ::
:: don''t always blend smoothly with their songs and the songs ::
:: themselves are basic and repetitive with near-industrial ::
:: rhythms that have a fixed and almost robotic speed. But even ::
:: if you''re not a Graveland fan, you might still like to ::
:: check out the short recording to see how songs can be ::
:: constructed and how ingenuity and creative ideas can ::
:: overcome beginner-level technical skills or poor-quality ::
:: equipment that doesn't have all the capabilities needed to ::
:: achieve your musical vision. ::
:: ::
:: . _ _ . ::
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Files
| Path | Size |
|---|---|
| 00-graveland-necromanteion-reissue-2023-berc.jpg | 139,97 KB |
| 00-graveland-necromanteion-reissue-2023-berc.m3u | 532 B |
| 00-graveland-necromanteion-reissue-2023-berc.nfo | 12,15 KB |
| 00-graveland-necromanteion-reissue-2023-berc.sfv | 672 B |
| 01-graveland-intro__necromanteion-berc.mp3 | 5,14 MB |
| 02-graveland-immortalem-berc.mp3 | 10,87 MB |
| 03-graveland-the_quest-berc.mp3 | 12,17 MB |
| 04-graveland-outro-berc.mp3 | 4,07 MB |
| 05-graveland-opus_mysteries_nocturni_(instrumental)-berc.mp3 | 2,73 MB |
| 06-graveland-intro-berc.mp3 | 2,12 MB |
| 07-graveland-storm_of_souls-berc.mp3 | 12,01 MB |
| 08-graveland-celts_ride_over_graveland-berc.mp3 | 5,09 MB |
| 09-graveland-sword_and_blood-berc.mp3 | 9,81 MB |
| 10-graveland-who_dies_first-berc.mp3 | 7,02 MB |
| 11-graveland-intro-berc.mp3 | 5,52 MB |
| 12-graveland-cathedral_of_shadows-berc.mp3 | 14,97 MB |
| 13-graveland-the_day_of_samhain-berc.mp3 | 11,74 MB |
| 14-graveland-dark_visions-berc.mp3 | 8,11 MB |