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DARVAZA “We Are Him”
DARVAZA “We Are Him”
By Dr. Abner Mality
DARVAZA are named after the flaming “Gateway To Hell” found in the remote deserts of Turkmenistan. This strange natural phenomenon is a hole in the ground that’s been belching gas-ignited flames for decades. A very clever and fitting name for a black metal band!
What I like about DARVAZA is how they manage to have a very orthodox black metal sound and yet they don’t sound like any one band in particular. There is influence here from both First Wave and Second Wave black metal and multiple bands in various styles. The sonority here is pleasingly rough and natural sounding, with more bass and lower frequency than “freezing” black metal bands. Yet much of the riffing is inspired by the Norse style of BM as well.
The songs are moderately long and expertly put together. After a classical music intro, “Holy Blood” has a fast and evil vibe that has an authentic Satanic feel. These guys don’t pussyfoot about their beliefs, they give vociferous praise to Old Nick. I love “A Last Prayer In Gethsemane”, which has such a cool evil riff on the verses coupled with a soaring, almost melodic chorus. This is black metal with “the right kind of sadness”, as Fenriz would say. “Chaos Fire Devotion” lives up to its chaotic title with a lot of aggression while “Lazarus” has a cold, almost dissonant feel.
The album really takes off with “Blood Of No One” and you can feel the primitive throb of BATHORY and HELLHAMMER in this one...a superb song with a nasty groove to loosen the neck! “Slaying Heaven” is slower, more measured, like a march to war in ancient times. The album ends with the very epic “Darvaza”, where a touch of clean vocals gives some drama to a song with a lot of tempos.
DARVAZA have hit upon a winning formula here...I enjoyed this one a lot!
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