Cold Northern Vengeance
Domination and Servitude
(Bindrune Recordings)
I really, really wanted to like this; an experimental black metal duo from New Hampshire, from a cult label with a history of solid releases? Cobalt anyone? Even more so after reading lots of positive press including our own Scott Alisoglu and a Nathan T. Birk interview of the band in Metal Maniacs that gushed over them.

Alas, this is no Cobalt, but more Caina, and I simply cannot get into this mush mash of ritualistic/ experimental/pagan black metal that simply never gels or delivers songs that stick despite the high levels of ambition the duo display. It’s like they want to be new age Enslaved and deliver a progressive take on mystical, neo-folk and experimental black metal, but it just never works.

Admittedly, things get of to a bad start (not including the spoken word/spell intro “Gnosis”) with “A Dangerous Wayfaring” with its grating chants and the scattershot, choppy riffage that never finds any sort of fluidity-a hall mark for the rest of the album, including following track “Hidden 93″. At this early point in the album, though rather annoyed by the material, I’m still trying to give the band a chance though, a chance that is blown by “Bypaths to Chaos”- a seven minute foray into industrial clanking, yells, samples, FX and programming that was beyond grating. “A Past Forgotten” tries to pull me back in with a more traditional, 10 minute take on somber, doomy, neo-folk black metal and “The Abraxas Trance” has some Emperor and Ulver pulsing amid its sloppily delivered march, but by now I’ve pretty much made up my mind about the album. Which is a shame as the acoustic number “The Shores of New England” is a nice little acoustic number and “Heathen, Heretic, Scapegoat” is a solid, almost pagan metal hymnal-but it’s too little too late and if the best tracks on the album are an acoustic number and a piano instrumental (”The Black Silence”)-that’s not a good thing.

I hate to be the negative Nancy amid all the praise for Domination and Servitude and feel free to call me out on this review that seems to be going against the grain, and check the band out for yourself. But in my opinion, thankfully Bindrune has Blood of the Black Owl for their occult/ritualistic black metal, as Cold Northern Vengeance, at least to me is a grating exercise that comes across as Enslaved’s ambition, ideas and hues colored in clumsy crayon rather than finite pastels with presence and skill.

[Visit the band's website]
Written by Erik Thomas
March 12th, 2009

What a douche of a band and from New Hampshire... The biggest douche bag STATE

pretty much why I feel they suck...... Completely fail

Well, I for one think they are awesome.............. Totally in a world of their own. Like a modern day Venom on acid

Listen to the Emperor/Enslaved split................... Real black metal and not precise pretty gayness

Don't make it so obvious next time you pretend to be 4 different anonymous people.

true dat

ANON is about twelve people. All ANON.

SAMEFAG

reviewer should use the word grating more and call for more "pastels" out of a black metal band...wtf?

All masterpieces have at least ONE bad review. Usually from the guy that just wants to be different and go against the 'norm'...like pretending he hates a great album just so he can be 'that guy' and be all controversial...

What a terrible review.

Erik usually has some pretty decent reviews, but he also provides a disclaimer that he doesn't listen to much black metal in most of the black metal reviews he writes. Doesn't explain why he keeps reviewing them, but eh, I tend to enjoy his stuff aside from this review.

Only Oaken Throne reviews are real

Oh hey cunts, I might as well reveal the douche bag that I am by saying that I started the whole thread to see if the law of physics really amounted to a god damn thing... Yup, a douche bag I is.... Either way Eric Thomas is a fuckin queeyah... Yup and nope. They should re name the company I work for to : Judaism in theory and practice.... Fuck Ye Self... Up me cunt
Ol' Uncle pauly

I have crooked English teeth and I live in Seabrook... All I want is a double wide trailer and a pick up truck.... Torch this jewishworld

i usually like his reviews too (when he isn't praising some new metalcore band's split release with some other new metalcore band) but this one was poorly written. as brian dc pointed out, he overused the word grating and the review was as sloppy as he claims the music is. his saving grace was telling people not to take his word for it and actually check out the band for themselves. he's one of the only people on the planet aside from me who likes fall of the leafe, so he's ok in my book. one shitty review doesn't ruin all the good ones he has written.

Im in CNV and i like his review. It probably will actually mentally force people to pick up our new record.