UMUR
"Carved in Flesh" is a demo CD-R by Norwegian black metal act Ansur limited to 200 copies. The demo was initially released in 2005. "Carved in Flesh" was re-released in 2006 in cassette format. Limited to 100 handnumbered copies. So we´re dealing with a pretty rare release.
The music on the four tracks featured on "Carved in Flesh" is pretty basic old school black metal. There are both heavy riffing and fast tremolo ditto and the mood varies from majestic to cold and aggressive. The vocals deserves a special mention here as I really enjoy the extremely aggresssive delivery. Ansur is not one of those symphonic keyboard driven black metal act (Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Old Man´s Child), but then again they are not of the primitive (or "true" black metal if you will) kind either (Mayhem, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth), so they are somewhere in between but mostly related to the old school black metal style IMO.
The musicianship is pretty good. There are no deliberately sloppy playing on "Carved in Flesh" which seems to be a kind of virtue on other more raw and primitive black metal releases. The compositions are pretty well written but there are sections I could have done without. Sections which I simply find too primitive and generic.
The production is thin and noisy. I can understand why some would find a production like this appealing but I would have preferred a more professional sounding production.
I think "Carved in Flesh" shows promise. Not necessarily great promise but promise nevertheless. It´s not a very original demo, but it´s pretty well played and the songs are pretty solid. A 2.5 star rating is warranted.