Posted on: February 28, 2014 Posted by: Tom D Comments: 0

The term “Norsecore” has been thrown around on the internet for a while and generally refers to bands that ripped off the second-wave Norwegian bands in every possible way from riffs to aesthetics to an extreme over-reliance on blast beats. Whether or not you think the term is obnoxious (it is), there’s some truth behind it. When people talk about the stagnation often present in black metal, it generally comes in the form of these copycat bands who throw on some corpse paint and some spiked gauntlets and play the same 3 Immortal/Darkthrone riffs for every song. There is however, seemingly a resurgence of bands who are successfully making black metal in a way that not only remains true to the aesthetics but also to the spirit of the early 90s black metal scene where the bands were just as focused on rebelling against modern production sounds and the light-heartedness of so-called “extreme metal” as they were focused on rebelling against the Judeo-Christian worldview in their respective societies. One of those bands is Belgium’s Possession. A band that sports corpse paint with dignity and purpose as opposed to just doing it because they think “that’s what black metal bands do”. After a ripping demo release last year, they’re back with an equally righteous two song 7″ EP called “Anneleise”.

First song is the title track and it’s an utter banger of a song. Wonderfully produced with each instrument coming through nicely in the mix, the thrashy, punchy energy of the guitars and bass complimented by an awesome row of blast beats is an excellent example of that old school extreme metal spirit that inspired the second-wave to begin with. I’m willing to bet these guys have had many an evening listening to INRI and Anno Domini. The second and last song Apparition follows and we get a nice mid-tempo riff and drum beat before shifting gears around the minute mark into a blackened storm of shrieks and blasts. The vocalist has great character in his voice and once again, the riffs are great even if they’re not earth-shatteringly brilliant. The mighty Fenriz once penned in the song I Am The Graves Of The 80s, in reference to modern black metal bands: “There’s way too much black/ And there’s too little metal”. Luckily for us, Possession has both of those qualities in spades.

8.5/10

Possession Anneliese 7″  / https://www.facebook.com/hisbestdeceit

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