It’s a little difficult to know what to make of Kaiserschnitt, the new album from dark metallers Porta Nigra, as there are parts that are exceptionally good, yet there’s also sections that will leave you scratching your head.
Opener Die Mensur will get your head banging and your foot tapping first of all, with plenty of heavy riffs and powerful vocals for you to contend with, but then the old-fashioned melodic vocals at the end sound out of place and ruins the flow somewhat. Yes; it is a concept album about the first world war that sees Porta Nigra travel back to 1914, so I can understand the inclusion, but it does make for a difficult listen and it’s perhaps not the best way to get the album started – a section like this would work better as a standalone track.
Hepatitis Libido is a particularly interesting track; it takes more of an acoustic route at times and the vocal performance is versatile, ranging from a half-yelled, half-spoken delivery to whispered sections and powerful harsh vocals. The energy behind the instrumentation is great too and makes for an all-round excellent listen.
As a whole, Kaiserschnitt isn’t bad, but it does feel like Porta Nigra can do a little better.
6/10
Porta Nigra: Facebook
