UMUR Released in 2001 through Northern Heritage Records (originally limited to 300 hand numbered copies on vinyl, but reissued on CD in 2003) this is a split release by black metal acts Clandestine Blaze from Finland and Deathspell Omega from France.

Clandestine Blaze is a one-man band consisting of Mikko Aspa (Deathspell Omega, Fleshpress, Morbid Savouring, Stabat Mater, A.M., D.O.M., Creamface, Noise Waste, Grunt, Clinic of Torture, Alchemy of the 20th Century, Nicole 12, Nihilist Commando, Pain Nail) who performs all vocals and plays all instruments on the Clandestine Blaze material on this release. In addition to Mikko Aspa´s involvement in the above mentioned metal and electronic acts he is also the owner of Northern Heritage Records, CF Productions (editor of Erotic Perversion magazines and Public Obscenities videos) and Freak Animal which is a power-electronic music label. From 2003 Mikko Aspa would take over the lead vocalist role in Deathspell Omega after Shaxul.

Deathspell Omega was at this point a rather obscure band where almost no information were available about the members of the band. On this release Hasjarl (owner of End All Life Productions) plays guitar, Shaxul (owner of Legion of Death Records) performs vocals and plays drums, and Khaos handles the bass.

The album features four Clandestine Blaze tracks and three tracks by Deathspell Omega and at a full playing time of 42:57 minutes it is considered a full-length release. The music style delivered by both acts is old school black metal. Relatively primitive, very raw, and repetitive. The Clandestine Blaze tracks vary in pace from slow- to mid- to blasting which does provide the material with some variation. They are still overall a bit one-dimensional and too repetitive though. The musicianship is on a decent level, but nothing out of the ordinary for the genre.

The three Deathspell Omega tracks are slightly more interesting and of a higher quality. Really aggressive and very fast paced blasting black metal (there are some mid-paced parts too though). The aggressive raspy vocals are very convincing and a great asset. Blood curdled screaming vocals delivered with the right hateful passion. The instrumental performances on the Deathspell Omega material are also on a high level, and it´s hard not to be intrigued by the intensity of the delievery.

The sound production on the Clandestine Blaze tracks is a bit muddy but not bad sounding while Deathspell Omega´s material features a well sounding production. Not too clear and polished, but raw and intense, which suits the material perfectly. So the "Clandestine Blaze / Deathspell Omega (2001)" split is for the most part a pretty good quality release. To my ears the Deathspell Omega material is the most interesting while the Clandestine Blaze tracks are a bit more standard quality black metal, but a 3 star (60%) rating is still deserved.

Vehemency ”Below the Surface of Cold Earth” proves that Clandestine Blaze fits great on short demo tape. If the monotonony and repetition of the full-lengths is too much for you, this demo is an ideal listen due to its short playing time and diverse material - ranging from the slow, atmospheric and melancholic wanderings of the title track (one of the best songs Clandestine Blaze has created) to the blunt Hellhammer / Celtic Frost worship track ”Weeping on the Cross”, and the malicious and desolate riffs (not to forget Aspa’s brilliant drumming) in ”Funeral of Humanity”.

Musically, ”Below the Surface of Cold Earth” doesn’t differ at all from Clandestine Blaze’s back catalogue: it is like a miniature version of a CB full-length, packed into a compact 18-minute whole, and those 18 minutes are of some of the highest quality Aspa has come up with so far. There is no filler material at all, and the whole demo is a very enjoyable experience of filthy, raw black metal without compromises. It would be hard to track down an original copy of the tape, but luckily this has been re-releasesed as a part of the Archives trilogy, on volume 2. Along with ”Deliverers of Faith” and ”Church of Atrocity”, ”Below the Surface of Cold Earth” belongs to Clandestine Blaze’s best material.

Vehemency On ”Night of the Unholy Flames”, Clandestine Blaze continues its path in simple, monotonous, lo-fi black metal, but when compared to the previous album ”Fire Burns in Our Hearts”, the sound is now fuller and there’s slightly more variation between songs.

For example, ”Cross of Black Steel” introduces doom metal elements to Clandestine Blaze’s sound, which is something that appears later on almost every CB release. This is also the album where Aspa’s trademark low growls are introduced more clearly than on the debut which still included higher pitched screams. ”Aikakausi On Lyhyt”, one of the highlight songs, is sung entirely in Finnish which works really nice, and it’s a shame it’s the only Finnish CB song as far as I’m aware.

Otherwise there aren’t any clear differences: the sound is really grey and monotonous with repetitive drum patterns and no real dynamics - and this should be considered as a compliment, because Clandestine Blaze does it rather well. ”Night of the Unholy Flames” evokes images of reeking, dirty sewers and bleak, hopeless landscapes. There are times when ”Night of the Unholy Flames” does sound a bit too dragging (”Invisible Death”), but it is compensated by the last tracks of the album which are of high quality, and all in all there isn’t a bad track on the album.

Vehemency Mikko Aspa’s first full-length effort under the name Clandestine Blaze provides masculine, filthy, grim and monotonous underground black metal: in the very same vein the project has continued to this date with only minor changes.

It is easy to hear that Clandestine Blaze is in its first stages here, and that’s part of the charm. Sound-wise, this is probably the most lo-fi sounding output the band has released, and it might turn off some people - especially those who also expect to hear innovative song structures, because from the core Clandestine Blaze is nothing fancy at all, and in all its greyness I’ve grown to love the band’s trademark sound that is somewhere close to Darkthrone but with some own twists - such as the lower grunts that are developed further on the next albums.

While ”Fire Burns in Our Hearts” can be criticized due to its lack of dynamics, I personally won’t underestimate the greatness of such songs as ”Native Resistance” with its inflammatory lyrics (”Gather the forces and prepare for revenge / We have been pushed down too long time”) and the interesting guitar work of ”Icons of Torture”. It is not the strongest album from Clandestine Blaze but a great debut album nonetheless from 11 years back.

Vehemency Deliverers of Faith sounds as Clandestine Blaze as always: monotonous and colourless black metal - the way I usually enjoy it. The production is very far from any studio sound and the snare drum seems to completely miss the snare mat. But still, Clandestine Blaze sounds very professional at what it’s doing, and Deliverers of Faith is probably the culmination of the whole era of Clandestine Blaze, so far.

Although being deeply rooted in the more primitive values of underground black metal, the album is musically pretty diverse. The third track ”Winter of White Death” must be one of the best songs Aspa has come up with so far: a 12-minute epic track that is an ultimate soundtrack to total desolation, building up towards the end to even guitar solos and subtle use of synths! When compositions like ”Winter of White Death” are mixed with such a dusty production, the result is quite phenomenal: the sound is so natural and honest. The same applies to the rest of the album, too.

Although the album is mostly ”just” traditional black metal, diversity is seen on other tracks too. For example, ”Tormented” presents strong doom metal influences, being a really slow and atmospheric piece. Aspa’s low growls fit to the style very well. On the last track, ”Grave of Gratification”, we can hear elements of noise music. No surprise, since Aspa is known for his involvement in noise and power electronics projects too.

A fast look at this album might give an impression of really unimpressive black metal, but on a closer look Deliverers of Faith is a great album done in the underground vein but still including many interesting elements. It sounds like a carefully crafted piece of black metal that is still really dirty. The lyrics are worth mentioning too, since they are a bit more interesting than black metal lyrics often are. I believe this is my personal favourite of Clandestine Blaze’s quite extensive discography, and should not be missed by anyone into this project.