Nightfly French extreme metal band Svart Crown have been releasing solid blackened death metal since their debut album Ages Of Decay back in 2008. All three of their previous albums contained plenty of atmospheric and oppressive death metal and with Abreaction they’ve made another very good addition to their back catalogue. Certainly as good as any of their other releases and quite possibly their best yet.

Golden Sacrament kicks things off but is not really representative of what’s to follow with its slow doomy opening riff. It’s not bad but is somewhat subdued compared with what follows and the weakest track on the album. Carcosa is much more representative of what you’re in for here with its dissonant chord structure over complex rhythm’s that twist and turn and fortunately they have the chops to pull it off effectively. I’m reminded of a more blackened version of Immolation with some Behemoth thrown in. Brooding atmospheric parts are well placed at regular intervals perfectly demonstrated on The Pact: To The Devil His Due before things return to more intense realms. There’s plenty of faster death metal out there but there’s no denying the intensity on show with things getting more so as the album progresses’. That’s not to say that pummelling blastbeats are abscent here but these guys are clearly smart enough to realise that doctoring them with slower brooding sections and inventive rhythmic variation only heightens the intensity.

Abreaction has moments where it’s better than anything in the bands past but the second half is where it’s at its most captivating. A little more evenness and we could have had an absolute classic but as things stand it’s still a very impressive piece of work.

Vehemency Blending together death and black metal, Svart Crown doesn’t break any boundaries on their sophomore major effort Witnessing the Fall, but nonetheless does its job - of bringing forth some utterly evil audial chaos - rather convincingly. While the band mostly focuses on heavy and averagely technical rhythmic patterns - both riff and drum-wise - not to forget the death metal growls, there’s a lot of religious black metal atonality going on in the melody department as well, making a sweet, albeit not entirely original, 46-minute whole of modern extreme metal.

What comes to individual songs on Witnessing the Fall, the album suffers from being a little generic: had this album been released in 2000 instead of 2010, I’m sure it would have triggered the interest of a wider audience, being on the quality level of e.g. Averse Sefira. But now, compared to all the other albums in the field (like the just recently reviewed Erebus by the Polish group Hate), Witnessing the Fall does little to shock the listener, no matter how convincingly Svart Crown delivers its malicious sounds and how well the members handle their instruments (after all, Witnessing the Fall is technically far from the cheapest and easiest metal albums).

Hence I find it hard to name even any particular standout moments from the album, but what is certain is that Witnessing the Fall moves enough swiftly to not bore me: tempo is often kept at high levels but there are slightly slower moments too amidst all the constant firing. ”An Eternal Descent” is worth mentioning, building up to a sweet melodic climax in the end, and the ending track ”Of Sulphur and Fire” partially laden with doom metal slowness and murkiness. Overall, Witnessing the Fall is a successful release that could however do better by adding something more original to the mix, but I’m certain that this satisfies many black/death metal listeners as it is.