Vehemency Shatraug is a man of many projects. Black Stench is one of them and has actually been active for the last six years at least. The band’s motif seems to filthy sounding occult black metal. Sounds like the main band Horna? Well, quite close, but Black Stench seems to focus even more on the dusty cellar-like atmosphere and more twisted sounding, and sometimes chaotic, melodies.

And Black Stench really handles it well. As a whole, the album is crafted carefully so that it never bores the listener. The guitar riffs are diverse and never too repetitive, there’s actually lots of palm-muted riffs and the drums play many different beats. The drums are mixed quite low and I wouldn’t mind if they were a bit higher, but in the end it’s the twisted guitar melodies that are most important in Black Stench. Towards the album middle resides an interlude of sorts, ”Shining Through Abandoned Halls”, that introduces clean guitar sound but still with the same sick style just like the previous tracks.

The album continues in the same spirit, from the fast ”Lunar Secrets and Opferblut” to the massive ten-minute last song ”Blood Is the Way”. The latter has hints of melancholy in it, and with its repetitive playing that creates a hypnotic atmosphere it belongs to the highlights of the album. Otherwise it’s a bit harder to choose any standout tracks, because in all honesty the album sounds like one successful piece of black filth.

If we want to draw comparisons to other bands, I must mention Vritra. The vocals are pretty much same, as is the whole spirit of Black Stench. You can also notice how the guitar sound is reminiscent of Horna (surprise, surprise) but in more insane form, so do not expect beautiful melancholic melodies à la Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne. I would list Black Stench as one of the surprises of 2009, coming out of nowhere with its spine-chilling madness.