Black Rock - "Arcane Remorseless" (Unpure Records, 2018; Defense Records/Mythrone Promotion, 2019)

Band: Black Rock
Title: Arcane Remorseless
Genre: First Wave of Black Metal
Time: 33.29 min
Release Date: 15th August 2018 (Unpure Rec)
30th March 2019 (Defense Rec/Mythrone Prom)
Rating: 70/100












In these days you must expect only the rawest stuff by Defense Records and Mythrone Promotion! If some days ago you realized the blasphemous existence of those black metal punkers known as Aggressive Mutilator, today your life will be infected by another primitive band such as Black Rock. As just Aggressive Mutilator, also Black Rock are a duo coming from Scandinavia. Precisely, they comes from Finland, a country where the '80s black metal is quite widespread thanks to acts of the calibre of Bonehunter or Wömit Angel (that last year played in my city, Rome, in a gig unfortunately attended by only...5 people!). But we are talking about Black Rock because of their third album "Arcane Remorseless", that was originally released in 2018 on tape by the Polish label Unpure Records and, then, edited on CD just by Defense Rec along with Mythrone Prom.

Now, give me a honest opinion, can you imagine the '80s black metal style of Black Rock only by seeing the cover artwork of "Arcane Remorseless"? YES, its 8 songs pay an enormous tribute to Hellhammer, that Black Rock seem to love endlessly! But this Hellhammer cult is about not only the music but also the type of lyrics, that deals with apocalyptic themes where the end of times is always conceived as near, and where there are even some macabre philosophical questions like in "Eternal Shadows", which is strong of verses such as "Will we find the ways to salvation/or are we doomed forever?/Do we see a new dawn rising/or is this the end?", that are really perfect to describe the reality of these last times, in which it's happening every disaster in the world. And without forgetting the kind of production of the album, in which everything is "ugly", from the snare that seem to be a kick drum to the boomy cymbals, or to the guitar, that sounds really weak. But all this is so awkward that, for me, it's possible only to love it!

Speaking about the songs, I need to say that the first half of the album is much better than the second one. In a specific way, the album opens with "War That Ends All", a song that set the regular style of Black Rock through a primitive and only fast first wave of black metal full of vocals à la Tom G. Warrior (or Satanic Slaughter?), "crooked" guitar riffs, simple up-tempos, and featuring also, at the end, the only, limping guitar solo in the album. Even the following song "Ancient Hatred" is fast in its entirety but shows a better intensity also because of its short lenght of 2 minutes circa. Then, there is "Silenced Screams", a really galloping track with chaotic drums and some more heavy metal-oriented mid-tempos. Finally, the first half is ended by the same titletrack, that's a slow, paranoid and agonizing 5-minute apocalyptic nightmare that spit out the doomish and darker sides of the band. After that, the second half, in brief, repeat without creativity what you listened in the first one, showing even songs that don't work well like "Colossal Tyrant", that, after a while, is totally static and needed surely of a guitar solo to add more atmosphere and more dynamics (in fact, it's a pity that there are no guitar solos anymore after the first song!). All in all, the only interesting number in this second half is "Apocalyptic Carnage (The End of Mankind)", another consuming doomish track but, this time, it's instrumental, except for a isolated scream in the middle by the singer/guitarplayer T. Willberg.

So, T. Willberg and the drummer M. Vehmaa (yes, there is no bassplayer here!) created an album of "Apocalyptic Doom Attack" that, recorded in the winter between 2017 and 2018, is good until a certain point. After that point, the album lose something both in atmosphere and creativity so to present more static and more predictable songs. Fortunately, "Arcane Remorseless" is a good value for its first half, especially for a very effective titletrack, that's certainly my favorite song of the album! For the rest, Black Rock are perfect for everyone into stuff like Apokalyptic Raids (that'll publish their new album very soon through Hells Headbangers Rec) and, above all, Warhammer. And concerning these last ones, don't you noticed that the Black Rock's "Colossal Tyrant" has some parts very similar to the Warhammer's "Mankind's Darkest Day"?

Tracklist:

1 - War That Ends All
2 - Ancient Hatred
3 - Silenced Screams
4 - Arcane Remorseless
5 - Colossal Tyrant
6 - Macabre Collapse
7 - Apocalyptic Carnage (The End of Mankind)
8 - Eternal Shadows

Line-up:

T. Willberg - vocals/guitars
M. Vehmaa - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/blackrockmetalband
BandCamp: https://blackrockmetal.bandcamp.com/
Unpure Records: http://unpurerecords.blogspot.com/
Defense Records: http://www.defensemerch.com/
Mythrone Promotion: https://www.facebook.com/mythroneprom