LORD OF PAGATHORN - Daimono Philia
Woodcut Records
Who can judge what is sane or insane in this insane world. Years ago this hipster scribe who worked for Pitchfork told me "Black Metal needs to progress in order to stay relevant." I told him relevant to who, you? Hey pal fuck you! The guy was a trendy douchebag in the first place. But seriously regardless of music genre, what if you're passionate about a certain style of music and you just like creating it. Better yet what if you were good at it before and just want to do it again.
Case in point, here we have the Finnish black metal band LORD OF PAGATHORN who started out in 1992. They existed for a few years putting out two demos to their credit. But then they called it quits for reasons of their own. Then in 2010 the band resurfaces and sporadically puts out some releases (ie: a demo, EP and a full length). Now here we have their latest and damm if it doesn't sound like something from the 1992-95 era of black metal or earlier. To me that's a good thing.
On Daimono Philia this trio keeps things in the harsh black metal of old template. Musically it's plenty of basic riffs and at times in a thrash or even death metal vein. Although the band does kick into the black metal song structure basics on a few cuts. Basically it just sounds ominous as hell as opposed to tremolo picked madness all the time. Another thing interesting is that you can actually hear the bass. The drumming is organic and supplies variation throughout the songs. The vocals, which are on the higher end of the harsh rasp meter, make things blackened to a crisp.
Song wise speaking and with all of what I've already said this is incredible. LORD OF PAGATHORN makes great use of varying attacks whether it's galloping rhythms or drawn out tones of pain. Ya know for a Finnish band they do sound influenced by a few well known Swedish BM acts. First and foremost is BATHORY and also DISSECTION. Then again they do add some symphonic touches which brings them back home to the likes of Finland's classic BARATHRUM.
I've listened to this every night after coming home from work, by the way thank you. Listening to this reminds me of the days when I'd just blast early black metal and drink a few beers just to relax from the bullshit late at night after work. When I first played it I liked it for it's significance. Afterwards it was for pure blackened enjoyment and now it's a favorite. The passion which goes into this material is why old fucks like me still listen and don't care about progression or what the hipster kids think. Here's another great release for 2018.
http://www.woodcutrecords.com/main.html
https://www.facebook.com/msilihporcen
http://www.lordofpagathorn.com/index.php
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