Arvensvarthe
The Necromancer

This disc by Arvensvarthe lands in my hands, a band originating from the regions of Marche and Abruzzo, which offers a classic Black Metal sound with some melodic Death Metal deviations. Let's start by saying that the band was formed in 2010 and this "The Necromancer" is their first work. The debut single was recorded in the studio and accompanied by 2 live tracks, "Under Picenum Crimson Skies" and a cover of the Norwegian band Windir, "Morket Sin Fyrste" from their first work "Sóknardalr" from 1997. With the CD in hand, the first impression is a low-budget self-production with a slim case without a booklet, but with a beautiful internal photo and credits on the back cover. Fortunately, the disc is at least printed (thankfully not a dreadful CD-R), and the graphics are well-curated.

If it weren't for the fact that the cover is an artwork by Gustave Doré which has been widely used by many bands, including the seminal Swedish band Merciless in their "The Awakening" where the famous painting "The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones" features prominently on the front cover. But it's alright; such a slip can be forgiven—probably the guys were not aware of the album produced by DSP of Euronymous back in 1990.
Let's start by saying that being a very young band, they have a promising future, if only because in a short amount of time they have managed to produce something that isn't categorized as "novice" composition, on the contrary. The songwriting is very mature, even if not original, still lacking a little push, at least at the riffing level.

"The Necromancer" opens with a very death metal-oriented attack and with a screaming that, to be honest, is somewhat anonymous, perhaps too classic and not very personal. The four guys step on the accelerator and demonstrate excellent technical skill, although objectively after about a minute, one realizes they are facing the classic Italian metal band that mimics the Scandinavian scene. However, the impression quickly turns positive, presenting an excellent melodic realization, dominated by the guitars; the rhythm relaxes, and the piece takes on a more airy aspect, despite the voice shifting from scream to catacomb deep growl.
They return with the classic black metal riff and classic genre breaks, giving excellent prominence and value to the bassist who is never confusing and weaves excellent rhythmic and enveloping partitions. Unfortunately, this piece stops here. Excessively redundant in the classic Black style, great parts with Death inserts but actually nothing new, despite some parts reminiscent of the best early Dissection (The Somberlain).
The piece, however, becomes somewhat tedious after a while, indeed too long with its almost six-minute progression, honestly, a bit shorter would have significantly improved the overall impact, and it's worth noting the excellent recording that sounds clean yet raw.

The second piece we have is "Under Picenum Crimson Skies," taken from a 2011 live and indeed almost unlistenable, comparable to the worst bootlegs of the 90s and hardly judgable since even with the volume cranked up, the guitar work remains too muddled and escapes the ear.
A missed opportunity, too bad they didn't record another piece in the studio, or at least decently mixed this one. Even though many musicians define "true" and "black metal" material as often unlistenable (but here the controversy arises), in reality, most of the time, there isn't enough money to print a decent-sounding disc, let alone true and true.

Of an entirely different caliber is the Windir cover, which to call excellent is an understatement, played masterfully with a great live impact, finally starting to make sense. I can sincerely say that the work done with the dual voice (clean/screaming) stands out, which most of the time in live settings yields quite aberrant results.
Guys, see you for the full-length, three tracks are a bit scant, but your attitude deserves praise for achieving so much in so little time.