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Saturday, July 11, 2020

SILENCED MINSTREL – VOLUME 4 (Review by Varg The Mighthy )



Malaysian One Man Black Metal band Silenced Minstrel’s new album, “Volume 4” offers us a curious approach to Black Metal.
Musically, it seems like Industrial Black Metal with hints of First Wave Black Metal, Hardcore and “Esoteric Warfare” era Mayhem.
The mix only gets more curious when you analyse the vocals, which sound like a unique blend of Hellhammer, Tiamat and your average low quality Black Metal project.
The drums are also somewhat curious, while most definitely being programmed, they offer us some very weird rhythms, sometimes fun and interesting, but sometimes a bit too artificial and stressful.
 It is curious to see this transition very gradual from the first to the last, a transition that also happens with the quality of the songs. The first ones are pretty good and nice to hear, but the last ones may even be unbearable. This album would’ve been better as an EP including only the best songs and discarding a few.
To give another tint to the mix, the recording quality is very poor, which fits perfectly with the musical style. Overall, this is a very unique and crazy, almost avant-garde album, with the 5 first songs being good and the later 5 more mediocre.
If you’re in the mood for weird Black Metal but you don’t want the over-production behind most of these albums, then this is what you’re looking for. This is a band that, even if it’s not one of the best out there, needs much more attention.

 Review by Varg The Mighthy

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