Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Astral/We The Unclean Shall Flourish/The Celestial Nightmare/Demo's 1993-4 Compilation Review


  Astral  where  a  1  man  band  from  the  Netherlands  that  played  a  very  atmospheric  form  of  occult  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  1993  "We  The  Unclean  Shall  Flourish"  and  94's  "The  Celestial  Nightmare"  demo's  which  where  re-issued  as  a  compilation  album.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  some  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music  at  times  as  well  as  some  tribal  ritualistic  parts,  while  the  keyboards  bring  a  very  dark,  avant  garde,  occult,  and  atmospheric  sound  to  the  recording,  as for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  and  primitive  black  metal riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording  and  there  are  no  regular  electric  guitar's  present  on  the  recording.

  Acoustic  guitars  which  are  only  used  on  the  second  demo  for   most  of  the  recording use  finger  picking  and  full  chords  to  add  some  more  ritualistic,  dark  and  avant  garde,  occult  sounds  to  the  recording  and  are  a  powerful  instrument  on  the  second  demo.

  Vocals  range  from  grim  sounding  black  metal  screams,  deep  demonic  growls,  whispers,  ritualistic  chanting,  and  spoken  word  samples  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  choirs  being  utilized  on  the  last  song,  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism,  Vampirism,  Left  Hand  Path,  and  Astrology  themes  with  one  song  being  written  in  German,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  with  most  of  the  songs  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Astral  where  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde,  atmospheric  occult  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "We  The  Unclean  Shall  Flourish"  "Glorious  Awakening  Of  The  Sleeping  Vampire"  and  "The  Astral  Gate  II". RECOMMENDED  BUY.

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