Taake
Nattestid Ser Porten Vid

Taake: a project I discovered recently. Don't think I'm a fanatic of the genre in question! Black Metal has indeed produced great albums but also a heap of useless releases that, honestly, I'd let rot in oblivion.

A very different story concerns Taake by Hoest, and in particular, their official debut: "Nattestid Ser Porten Vid". An album promoting a narrow-minded nationalism, so much so that not only is the album titled in Norwegian, but the acts within the work (they don't have a title, they've been simply numbered) are sung in the language of the coldest country in the world.

But beware: we're not talking about Viking-Black Metal or the genre proposed by the Swedes Amon Amarth. No. The music of Taake is pure and untainted black metal, played with the ferocity that has always characterized the Norwegians.

The style brings to mind the more direct Satyricon, certainly the Mayhem of "De Mysteriis...", but even something of Darkthrone, although, an important aspect, the recording is a hundred times cleaner than that made famous by the authors of "Transilvanian Hunger".

Considering that "Nattestid" was released in 1999, a period not very flourishing for canonical Black Metal, many will wonder if there's any originality here. If you think of what's been proposed by bands like Arcturus, it pains me to write it, the answer will be negative!

If, however, you think of all those old black metal glories that have stubbornly continued to tread the same path (Marduk first and foremost) or those that have alternatively machoized their sound (Satyricon), the answer is affirmative! There is originality here, freshness of ideas, and personality.

Extremely violent music, comparable to a snowstorm or a raging tempest. Track "I" might be my favorite, but I wouldn't forget "II" and "IV" either. Blast beats, tempo changes, howling guitar riffs, and a raw screaming, shrill but not too much, immerse us in the deathly ice.

With Ulver and Lifelover (certainly light years away from Hoest's music), Taake is one of the few black metal realities I can listen to with immense pleasure.