Tsorer – Return To Sodom
Israel, probably the most hated country on the planet for a whole flotilla of reasons, hasn’t had much to shout about in terms of Black Metal. Sure there’s the Mesopotamian cheese of Melechesh but no bands of real underground quality to speak of that I am aware. That is sure to change though at the hands of Tsorer.
They exist to create raw black metal influenced by the golden age bands such as Darkthrone, Immortal, Khold and a whole list of others. Indeed you can spot so many different influences even in the first song that it makes for a contemporary yet nostalgic listen.
Straight away Tsorer hammer off some wicked old school riffing at the beginning of ‘Misantrope’ and make use of some well placed alterations in tempo and structure that really get your attention and will have you tapping your feet or drumming with your fingers on the steering wheel as you drive. They seem to have taken all the best bits of their favourite groups and combined them plausibly into a decent style of their own.
‘Sodom’ brings the flavours of the band’s more thrashy influences to the fore and represents some of their fastest playing. It’s more of the same enjoyable, crushing Black Metal for the next few tracks, pelted out of the stereo with a ruthless efficiency only previously reserved for the Spanish Inquisition! Seriously though the musicianship is of high quality and the recording is tight and has well balanced production.
There is also a fair bit of atmospherics in there too, adding a dark ambience while remaining unobtrusive and subtle. ‘Old’ is a belting track that’ll leave lash marks across your ears. With cutting razor slow riffage and grim vocals in the vein of Darkthrone and a fucked up and weird middle section. This leads into a brilliant trippy section the likes of which I’ve never heard in underground Black Metal before.
All of Tsorer’s songs come together nicely into one persistent chronicle. Nothing feels forced or rushed but natural and slick. With the ever-present nastiness of older styles it makes for a really great opus, one which they might have a hard time to follow up. One thing is for sure they’ve set a standard for their countrymen to adhere to.
Black Metal is dead. In the UK at least. Seeing as though it is the place that gave birth to the genre it is as fuckin’ useless a broke-dick dog. There is no scene to speak of, just the odd one or two equally useless bands trying in vain to mimic some of the more [...]
Opening with a song title of the length Bal Sagoth would be proud of (thankfully that’s as the only comparison to draw), the imaginatively titled ‘A Glimpse of the Image of Lucifer Gleaming Beyond the Subterraneous Black Sun’ marches forth. Mid paced, it stamps away with the precision of a well oiled Black Metal machine [...]
Mesopotamian cheese of Melechesh – hahaha
good one.. still, I prefer Melechesh to these guys..they sound decent but nothing great here.. or at least I’m not in the mood for this.