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REVIEW: Carpathian Forest - Strange Old Brew Avantgarde Music, 2000
9/10
Carpathian Forest - Strange Old Brew - cover art Carpathian Forest is a Norwegian band signed to the Italian label Avantgarde Music which might seem a bit strange. Their music has been labelled as "misanthropic black metal" which is a suitable way to describe the dark symphonies written by the only two permanent members of the band - R. Nattefrost and J. Nordavind. The lyrics are very dark and misanthropic in their nature, telling tales of death, suicide and a cold hell. This album has been accused of being just another release from the neverending black metal bands erupting from Norway and not being very creative. I don´t really agree with this description since Carpathian Forest seem to be a very talented band. Their music is definitely mainly traditional black metal, very thrashy and also fairly aggressive. They have also been influenced by regular heavy metal and death metal which can be heard in the great riffing from time to time. Classical arrangements can also be heard in a couple of songs such as the instrumental "Theme from Nekromantikk". Carpathian Forest is a black metal band mainly based on melodic vs thrashy riffing and not keyboard arrangements like Dimmu Borgir and others. Nattefrost and Nordavind has hired Tchort to play bass guitar and A. Kobro for drums on this recording and a couple of other guest musicians can also be heard. The quality of the production is almost perfect as you could expect when Terje Refsnes (Tristania, The Sins Of Thy Beloved) is involved. "Strange Old Brew" was recorded at Sound Suite Studios and produced by Refsnes and the band. The artwork and design was done by Vrangsinn at Zengeist Studio with art direction by Nattefrost. Nattefrost also wrote all the lyrics for the album in 1991-97. If you´re not into black metal this might not be suitable to your ears but "Strange Old Brew" is one of the finer releases of the genre.

written by Vincent Eldefors

Find out more about the band

» Carpathian Forest band details
Tracklist

1. Intro -
Damnation Chant
2. Bloodcleansing
3. Mask of the Slave
4.
Martyr / Sacrificulum
5. Thanatology
6. The Suicide Song
/> 7. House of the Whipcord
8. Cloak of Midnight
9. Return of
the Freezing Winds
10. Theme from Nekromantikk
11. The Good Old
Enema Treatment

Bonus track
12. He´s Turning Blue
/>

Playing time: 40.11

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