REVIEW: REFRACTORY - BLACK MAGIC FOREST

 

REFRACTORY - BLACK MAGIC FOREST (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at the Rape of Harmonies Studios

Produced by Ralf Müller

9-10 Recorded live at the Schloss / Freiberg

Track List: 1- Invasion, 2- Black Magic Forest, 3- Bloody Crack of Dawn, 4- Fucking Christ, 5- Deep In My Soul, 6- Hallucinations from Evil, 7- Visions of a Burning Sky, 8- History of War and Fire, 9- Black Hordes, 10- Execution

How peacefully starts this recording...with the sound of nature and an intro with acoustic guitars and keyboards. Then the keyboards volume goes up and you start listening a baby crying in the background and some voices. And then the band enters with its black metal.at half speed before getting in full speed. One important thing here are the melodies created by the guitars and the progressions that the keyboardist is doing in the background. There are two types of vocals here: one is more high pitched than the other that is similar to death metal bands. The tracks are very fast with a lot of blast beats but with original guitar riffs like the ones in "Black Magic Fores". There are great moments where the guitar plays some chords along with the keyboard with a more syncopated rhythm and the vocals adapt also that rhythmic structure ("Black magic Forest").The sound of this recording is in overall good but I would have mixed a little bit louder the snare drum and the bass drum (the cymbals and hihat are loud enough).Favorite tracks "Bloody Crack of Dawn", "Visions of a Burning Sky" and " Black Hordes (live)". Contact: refractory@gmx.de