Strange Old Brew (Strange Old Brew - Carpathian Forest)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Strange Old Brew - Carpathian Forest
Date:	23/04/08 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Boldly and enjoyably experimental, while making plenty of time more for primal fun.

Disadvantages: Tries patience at times.

The title of Carpathian Forest's second album is rather apt, as the band continues to test the limits of black metal in varying degrees of success. The band's influence of classic black metal acts such as Bathory and particularly Celtic Frost really starts to shine through here, as the guitars follow steady, rocking paces rather than the typical black metal tremolo-plucking warble frenzy, but the band continues to look ahead and experiment with ambient keyboards, a strong melodic bass presence and even a saxophone in the atmospheric 'House of the Whipchord,' easily the most interesting deviation here.

Even the less elaborate songs are all pretty good, from the funereally slow pace of 'Thanatology' to 'Bloodcleansing' and all the other songs that effectively sound like a twenty-first century incarnation of Celtic Frost (more than the genuine twenty-first century incarnation of Celtic Frost has managed to achieve), but the album is still let down by a lack of consistency. The central section becomes far too slow for far too long, taking until the second half of 'Return of the Freezing Winds' to regain any semblance of energy, and there are a few too many keyboard instrumentals when compared to the "proper" songs, 'Theme from Nekromantikk' being a lacklustre soundtrack to some gore film while finale 'The Good Old Enema Treatment' is just a distorted sample of speech.

It would have been interesting to see Carpathian Forest pursue this experimental direction further, but sadly it would ultimately collapse in on itself and produce some of the dullest black metal around today.

1. Intro - Damnation Chant
2. Bloodcleansing
3. Mask of the Slave
4. Martyr / Sacrificulum
5. Thanatology
6. The Suicide Song
7. House of the Whipchord
8. Cloak of Midnight
9. Return of the Freezing Winds
10. Theme from Nekromantikk
11. The Good Old Enema Treatment

Summary: Carpathian Forest's second album (2000).