April 2, 2009

Ohtar - Petrified Breath of Hope


Band/artist - Ohtar
Genre(s) - Black metal
Origin - Poland
Album - Petrified Breath of Hope
Year of release - 2006

There's exactly one NSBM album in my physical record collection and well what do ya know, this one's it. Me actually spending money on this would mean it has to be pretty good stuff, right? Well, from the outside it seems like it could well be your regular, dime-a-dozen offering of Absurd-worshipping sieg-heiling black metal. This, Petrified Breath of Hope is not. Sure, you don't have to expect stretches of ambient or super-progressive guitar masturbation. What you do get are enigmatic riffs with a folkish aftertaste that seem specific to Eastern Europe, and are as mesmerising those found in the music of Drudkh, or especially the Farewell album by Infernum. This spiderlike yet corrosive guitar playing is the band's greatest asset, and lifts this band above most of their brownshirted, bone-headed brethren. Their political affiliation is barely noteicable from their lyrics, by the way, so it's all good, clean fun.
  1. Poison me, Samaritan
  2. Honour and faithfulness
  3. Fog imbued with the smell of death
  4. Elite? Dust (Sometime...)
  5. Light manacled in shackles of ice
  6. Insomnia
  7. Petrified breath of hope
Load it down (58.05 MB)

1 comment:

  1. I expect a real Marxist-Leninist streak after these last two posts! But I will step outside of my Leftist comfort zone and try to enjoy the black metal. :)

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