What would Cleopatras’ vibrator sound like? Thyrane had been kind enough to postulate upon this in ages past and now almost twenty years later the world once again has a chance to marvel at the sound of a trapped hive mind angrily teasing moist (ear) holes for pleasure. There’s nothing wrong with carnal sins but there is something exciting about them and Black Harmony encapsulates that quite succinctly.
Black Harmony otherwise annotated as Symphonies of Satanic Black Metal is composed of four rather epic songs that sound like a two-stroke engine post-processed through a vacuum cleaner. While the final mix sounds retarded in consideration to the evolution of black metal by ’98 it has some seriously solid compositions backing it up. The first album from Finlands’ Thrayne it was better late than never.
Call it kvlt, or maybe true black metal, it certainly checks all the boxes in both departments. It’s an accurate portrayal of the mass emulation that the early nineties black metal scene featured right down to the equipment. As the Korg X5 choirs can testify to.
In retrospect by clinging onto that sound which by the time of its release had to contest with albums like Nemesis Divina, Enthroned Darkness Triumphant and Cruelty and the Beast the pale production, as a reprise, feels rushed in comparison to the developing black scene. Ulver parodied a very similar production on their ’97 release Nattens Madrigal.
The riffs are where this album’s at and if you can stomach the hum of nickel wound strings powered by corpse paint you’ll find gold amidst the flow of dirty reverb. With rhythms and licks that bring about a transcendental feeling, the true source of black metal’s attractive properties, Black Harmony is a valid affirmation of the kvlt. It also had blast beats, lots of blast beats, every type of blast beat you can imagine. In fact so many blast beats that you’ll be left wondering what they did to the drummer and why we’re still searching for that ancient sex toy.
8/10
