VIKING CROWN — Banished Rhythmic Hate (review)

VIKING CROWN — Banished Rhythmic Hate album cover Album · 2001 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
0.5/5 ·
Vim Fuego
Black metal isn't meant to be fun. It's meant to be miserable, and dark and, well, black. So why does it sound like Viking Crown are having a good time?

This was Phil Anselmo's "black metal" side project, which slots alongside his "stoner" project (Down), his gore grind project (Necrophagia), and who knows how many other projects besides his day job as Pantera main man.

Don't get this expecting a full on, blasting, hyperspeed, blurred black metal assault, because it's not. Sure, there are the traditional black metal tracks, but the majority of the album is ambient darkwave soundscapes. The doom–laden drones are overlaid with orchestral effects, angelic/demonic chorales, and voices buried and distorted so far into the mix they seem to exist only on the edges of the conscious. The atmospheres of dread created are equal parts melancholically soothing and subconsciously unnerving.

So where's the fun? Well, it's in the unproduced straightforward metal tracks. They are so badly done, so cheesy, so poorly produced, and so downright amateurish, they're laughable! They sound like the band are playing in a bomb shelter, and have been recorded by a telephone receiver dropped down a ventilation shaft. The guitars have the sound quality of a buzzing fly trapped inside a milk bottle. The drums sound like a plastic bucket full of water being hit with a hammer. The bass player must have had the day off when this was recorded, because there's little sign of any bass anywhere. The vocals are the usual cat hacking up furballs fare expected of black metal. The riffs are straight from the "Slipknot Bumper Book Of Guitar Tips" and the blasts are out of time, until the drummer finally catches up.

The artwork and packaging of the album is quite impressive. The cover is graced by a demonic succubus with goat skulls in place of human heads, and even bat wings. The figures seem to be engaged in some form of satanic rituals within a black church of some type.

So if impressively dark atmospheric soundscapes, god–awful rawer–than–raw black metal, and satanic imagery bordering on soft porn is your thing, grab this immediately.
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