Black Rock
Black Rock – Arcane Remorseless
Recorded in their home country of Finland, “Arcane Remorseless” by Black Rock takes its influence from bands such as Darkthrone and Emperor. It’s certainly obvious the sound they’re going for, from the image to the songs and through to their production.
I appreciate original old school black metal always had a DIY feel, home-made/lo-fi recordings taking priority over studio technology. Almost intentionally under produced to add to the bleakness of the black metal scene, however for Black Rock this approach hasn’t done them any favours.
At times the vocals on “Arcane Remorseless” are almost in-audible in the mix, with everything else being overpowered by the drums. Even then they sound like they’ve recorded them in a vacuum, with the blast beats and resonance of the cymbals disappearing into an oblivion.
Black Rock – Arcane Remorseless
Finnish Black Metal
There are still plenty of moments evil though. After all, with an album of Finnish black metal you wouldn’t want anything else. Once you train your ears to try and get past the murky waters, there’s certainly a band wanting to break out. In particular on tracks such as “Ancient Hatred” and album closer “Eternal Shadows”.
I guess ideally it would be good to see Black Rock live, where the sound can be given the mix it deserves. Just on record, having listened to “Arcane Remorseless” a few times, I’m still finding Black Rock hard going.
As a result, it makes the album difficult to review, they could sound fantastic in the right setting. However, on the back of “Arcane Remorseless”, Black Rock are going to struggle to win me over.
Although who knows, it could be just what they’re going for. In the meantime, hopefully I don’t get burnt at the stake.
Black Rock – “Arcane Remorseless” Out Now.
