Review (Encyclopaedia Metallum) Excellent EP - 87%
Written by ThrashingMad on December 16th, 2007

This early Graveland EP is a very impressive piece of black metal, with every song that it contains being great and having a nice sense of uniqueness without actually being radically different from other black metal being played at the time. They borrow many of the aspects that drove most second wave black metal bands at the time, while still putting an interesting twist on the formula, and in doing so; they create some excellent black metal with a fascinating atmosphere.

The guitars are this EP’s strongest component, as is the case with most black metal. They consist mostly of expertly picked tremolo riffs played a variety of different tempos, which is a nice song-writing technique because it effectively avoids all monotony that could possibly plague songs such as these. They do have a fairly potent, albeit well hidden, melodic sense that is somewhat hard to pick up on first listen but reveals itself after a few more. They’re clearly present but not at all overbearing, giving the songs a great sense of catchiness while letting them retain a dark atmosphere. Though there are some riffs that don’t contain this quality, mainly the ones in the first song, leaning more on simple aggression to get their point across, and remarkably, they succeed at this as well. The vocals are also very good; Rob Darken clearly has mastered the style of black metal vocals. He has a great, raspy scream that sounds as hateful as it does pained.

The later two songs on this EP are slower than the first and have a very dark, haunting almost occult atmosphere to them. The keyboards help to add to this. Taking on the sound of an organ, they stay in the background and harmonize very nicely with the rest of the music but never really take the lead, clearly choosing to play a complementary role rather than a primary one. This faint, quiet quality gives them a deeper, more interesting mood, making them almost feel like a barely visible ghost slowly stalking the other instruments. The slow guitar riffs that present very dark, sinister melodies, the subtle and somewhat ominous keyboards, and the screams of both anger and anguish give the songs a very evil, eerie feeling, like some mysterious, sacrificial ritual being preformed in a pitch black forest by a crazed preacher of some long lost cult, while a morbid organist plays the song of death.

The first song is a little different than the two that follow it, being quite a bit faster, having straight-forward riffing that isn’t very melodic, and an atmosphere that is more aggressive than it is dark. There are a few slower parts where the keyboards come in, and in these sections it does sound a lot like the two songs that follow it, but for the most part it doesn’t bare too much resemblance to them. While it’s not quite on par with the two songs after it, it still manages to be a very good piece of straight-forward black metal.

There is really nothing for me to complain about on this EP, and there is no flaw here that would deter even the pickiest of black metal listeners. It features excellent songs with great song-writing that pairs interesting melodic guitar work with eerie keyboards to create one truly stimulating atmosphere. This is highly recommended to anyone who likes black metal.