Paria - "Knochenkamp" (World Terror Committee, 2016)

Band: Paria
Title: Knochenkamp
Genre: Black Metal
Year: 25th December 2016
Time: 28 min
Rating: 80/100













I must say that it's very difficult that the German label World Terror Committee, managed by Sven Zimper of the known and controversial NSBM band Absurd, disappoints the fans of black metal. In fact, this label supports many brave black metal bands often full of strong occult/esoteric lyrics. So, W.T.C. deserves a lot also this time due to its compatriots Paria and their mini-album "Knochenkamp"!

Paria, guided by the guitarist Akeon, aren't a new band considering that they plays even since 1995. Hence, they lived the so-called golden years of the second wave's black metal also if, at that time, they recorded only some unofficial demos releasing their first album even in 2008 after many line-up changes. Now, Paria have spewed forth 3 albums, and the most appreciated of them is the last one, "Surrealist Satanist", which saw the rays of light just through World Terror Committee in A.D. 2013.

Released during the Christmas' Day, "Knochenkamp" is the last production of the band with a certain Panzerdaemon, former member of the demented Khthoniik Cerviiks where he known as Khraâl Vri*ïl, so yet I warned you about the frightful madness of Paria! Well, this mini-LP consists of an intro, 3 new songs and a fantastic cover of a historic track for the entire black metal.

Musically, Paria plays an epileptic and possessed black metal. This is due firstly to the nervous and tentacular drumming of Gonzo Goatpestilence, which gives to the music to the band a chaotic aura focusing usually on quasi-jazzy mid-tempos also if he is very able to smash everything with a storm of violent blast-beats. Secondly, the vocal performances of the same Panzerdaemon are incredibly sick and insane: for example, he scare also the most expert listeners with nightmare screeches while, in other times, he hypnotizes them with theatrical chant-like vocals reminding to me a more perverse version of Ozzy Osbourne or Bobby Liebling of Pentagram. And the various songs (excluded, obviously, the very long intro) are dynamic and unpredictable lasting from 4 to almost 8 minutes of lenght, often starting them in mid/slow tempos destined to explodes shortly after (as in "Pergamentikkch Nemesis" and "Cyclikkch Ovogenesis").

My favorite songs are surely the aforementioned "Pergamentikkch Nemesis" and the following "So Far from the Hidden God". The first one represents maybe the entire Paria-sound ranging from quasi-psychedelic slow tempos with a dilated riffing and a serpentine bass to explosions of pure fury. Instead, "So Far from the Hidden God" is, without every doubt, the most violent song of the mini-album also because it has a chaotic and devastating finale emphasized by a literally uncontrollable guitar solo.

But what is the cover? Well, it is nothing more than "Call from the Grave" of Bathory, a track coverized, to say the least, by billions of bands, so you should expect no surprises. Instead, Paria surprises everyone playing "Call from the Grave" with a big personality through a more extended and slower version of it in order to combines Bathory with Black Sabbath where Panzerdaemon is an absolute protagonist with his hallucinated chant-like vocals. In addition to all this, the lead guitar phase of the cover is very good also because Akeon cites, as in the original song,the "Funeral March" of Chopin.

Said all this, "Knochenkamp" is a very good mini-LP full of interesting skills but this was almost obvious considering its half-psychedelic cover artwork, expressing a totally sick but inventive black metal. Now, due to the exit of Panzerdaemon, the role of the singer belongs to the Swiss new entry Mentor (also in Blakk Old Blood) while the bassplayer is Nefas, ergo Paria have today become a quartet. I wonder what will be the new filthy gestures of the band with this singer...

Tracklist:

1 - Intro
2 - Pergamentikkch Nemesis
3 - So Far from the Hidden God
4 - Cyclikkch Ovogenesis
5 - Call from the Grave (Bathory cover)

Line-up:

Panzerdaemon - vocals/bass
Akeon - guitars
Gonzo Goatpestilence - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/officialParia/
Official site: http://www.worship-paria.de/
World Terror Committee: http://www.w-t-c.org/