Upon the formation of Walpurgisnacht
in 1996, the band intermittently played covers of Abigor, Satyricon, Gorgoroth,
Mayhem and Rotting Christ. After a while they started to write their own
material, but also had a hiatus due to Marchosias’ other projects
Cirith Gorger, Grimm, and Zwartketterij. Much like the aforementioned bands,
Walpurgisnacht uses those old school traditional raw black metal elements
with epic traits to create their latest disc “Die Derwaert Gaen En
Keeren Niet.” The group’s writing and music has its inspiration
pulled from Dutch legend and “De Peel.” For those who don’t
know, “De Peel” used to be a vast area of marshes, moors, fens
and forest in southern Netherlands, which was murky, mysterious and virtually
impassable. Much of this album is fast paced, but still uses tempo changes
occasionally. The overall sound is dark and demonic helped by the blackened
vocals including: shrieks, grunts, and sinister laughs; and the quality
lead guitars. As I said this is raw black metal, so don’t expect Dimmu
Borgir’s crystal clear recording quality. Its quality is perfect for
the genre and not too overbearing that it annoys. The ten tracks and forty-six
and a half minutes in length is a good introduction for the bands first
full-length.
Rating: 80
Reviewed By: Jeffrey D. Adkins |
