Regimental Records

Although Spain isn’t known for their black metal, don’t ever make the mistake of overlooking some of the excellent artists who call it home. One of these bands that is relatively new to the world is Yskelgroth, having formed in 2007. Though the band is new, the members carry years of experience from various death metal bands like Christ Denied and Golgotha. This means they've got multi-band death metal vocalist Dave Rotten on vocals. But Yskelgroth isn’t death metal – Yskelgroth is hyper-driven black metal.

Other than a demo, Unholy Primitive Nihilism is Yskelgroth’s first release. It runs at a little under 29 minutes, putting it in that odd space between being an EP or a full length album, the classification depending on who you ask. Does it really matter? Fuck no. This EP/album is intense, chaotic, and violent. I haven’t heard anything quite like it, though it does bring to mind bands such as Impiety, Angelcorpse, Revenge, and 1349. But it’s not to be mistaken for any of these quite different bands, and only fleetingly can find comparison between them, merely for the ultra-violence it imposes upon all within earshot. And it’s not a one-trick pony, predictable, or repetitive form of ultra-violence, it’s an assiduous and purposeful ultra-violence that never lays stagnant, never falls into a “brutality hypnosis”, but quickly and dynamically changes it up over and over again, throwing riff after riff at the ear, each riff by itself perhaps not always complex  and vicious, but, in the string of others its working with, always ultimately devastating. The guitar tone is abyssic and hateful, a bleak tank of crushing rancor. Percussion sometimes sounds mixed a bit low, but is usually perfectly heard above the chaos of guitars and echoed roars. Guitar solos make appearances for added bursts of intensity, not for flare. Daves voice ranges from death metal roar to demon-summoning shrieks, and most things in between, amplified by echoes and reverb. The rampage ravages onward…

For as fast and vicious as this work is, the development of atmosphere is noteworthy. Below the punishing riffs there often lies a quickly growing atmospheric element, sometimes running side by side with the music as an active component, other times playing it quiet and almost subconscious. It's a constant darkness and horror that lurks under the currents of violent, explicit attack. It's a distant, howling guitar flashing in and out with the tone of a lead guitar, but with the purpose of nightmare bringer.

Song structures aren’t anything clever, but aren’t dumb or simple constructs of brainlessness, either. The architecture of the tracks might fit roughly into thrash or modern black metal composition, with cycles of speed and blunt force chaos leading into slower, heavy riff development, and then repeating the idea with new riffs or new layers. No particular riff ever wears out its welcome. There’s not much in variety, though the songs are designed to get the maximum effect from each and every note. By the time it might feel like the band is running low on steam or ideas, the album ends. This shortness works to its benefit, keeping everything fresh and interesting. It’s absolutely intense and evil and, in a way, barbaric, but with a kind of charisma and complexity beneath the surface.

8.4/10