SLAEGT: Goddess (BLACK METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Slægt, a Danish band that has been active for about ten years, has taken a strange path. At the beginning, a band that macerates in the juice of a rather obscure melodic black. A split with the no less underground (and cult) White Medal embodies these first steps. Later, two albums on Van Records, a label with often daring choices, translate a slow evolution towards a less orthodox expression because fed with heavy metal and freed from the straitjacket imposed by the genre, the whole nimble of a mysterious if not esoteric layer. The Danes have gradually built up a flattering reputation. The powerful and clever Century Media did not make a mistake by signing them for their fourth long-lasting effort, an alliance that should bring the band a visibility that was still missing.

"Goddess" is the ideal door to penetrate their universe, rough, strange and dark. However, the visual, superb by the way, colored and viking, seems to announce an offering loaded with a hard rock a little stoner and of Nordic inspiration, in the way of "Age Of Winters" of The Sword or The Flight Of Sleipnir. If some riffs and solos, of an epic beauty, testify of this 70's influence, witness the grandiose and captivating opening track 'Deceived By An Amathyst', the identity of the Danes turns out to be much more complex. Certainly catchy but no less brutal and sinuous.

In fact, although more accessible than at the beginning thanks to the rock and seventies blood that flows in its veins, Slægt still hasn't cut the cord that ties it to black metal, which it will probably never let go of. The snarling and bruised vocals blend with the swollen guitars of a typical heavy metal fluid. The result is surprising like the long title track, a tortuous piece of 11 minutes where the majesty of luminous six-strings although draped by a shroud of sadness disputes with abrupt vocalizations. If it makes you want to stamp your foot ('Fealty, Thunder Whip') or to break everything ('Kiss From A Knife' with its quasi-punk hints), "Goddess" spreads above all a bewitching and nevertheless fierce charm.

Divided between shadow and light, hardness and softness, Slægt cultivates ambivalence like this very rough sound recording which opposes to the racy elegance of an evolving music. In a style too raw for the melody lovers, too delicate for the black metal fans, the Danes nevertheless continue their slide towards an art always so bizarre and of a raspy flamboyance. - Official website

SLAEGT

GODDESS

NUCLEAR BLAST

BLACK METAL