BORNHOLM: Apotheosis (BLACK METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

We discovered Bornholm almost twenty years ago when the modest Melancholia Records, a French label that seems to have disappeared today, released "... On The Way On The Hunting Moon", an epic black metal album carved in the woods of Eastern Europe. Since then, the Hungarians have continued on their way without succeeding in engraving their name at the top of the genre, an eternal second division band whose skill is nevertheless inversely proportional to its (too) discreet fame.

The fact that they haven't produced anything for six years and "Primaeval Pantheons" and that they never had the lasting support of a label from which they kept changing according to their sinuous career can also explain why Bornholm is still too unknown. The alliance sealed with the powerful Napalm Records should finally bring him the exposure he deserves. And this is all the more true since he is back with a fifth epic which we can announce right away that it does not suffer from any real clumsiness. But this does not make it an infallible creation. Explanations.

The trio particularly took care of its return. Superb cover, enveloping sound fuselage and unstoppable execution at the service of a chiseled writing feed a neat work. Herald of a black shining with a pagan emphase, Bornholm gallops during nearly one hour on a bloody land that the darkness of the past darkens. Although the elements are unleashed, as witnessed by 'Thy Darkened Grove' carried away by furious blasts, the melodies are never sacrificed on the altar of a fiery violence. Always, the guitars weave a luminous fabric... at the risk sometimes to sink in an almost dancing style ('To The Fallen'). The darkness in fallow, "Apotheosis" will perhaps disappoint those who hoped to hoe in him negative atmospheres.

The geographical origin of its authors should not deceive you, the group does not tie any link either with the Polish school (Graveland, Mgla) or Ukrainian (Hate Forest, Drudkh). Neither abrasive nor sinister, the black art they sculpt draws its essence from a source more majestic than brutal inherited from the 90s. The intoxicating choirs and Sahsnot's vocals, not very original by the way, make this opus part of this valorous and warlike tradition without being too much so. 'My Evangelium' and 'Sky Serpents', which start the listening, display the most accomplished features of the band and it seems difficult to resist them. Made in the same melodic and torrential style, the rest can be appreciated with an equal ease but nevertheless loses some steam at the end.

Technically very well done and all along pleasant to listen to, "Apotheosis" will seduce as much those who remain sensitive to this black metal loaded in epic melodies as it will repel listeners in need of a more serious and dramatic darkness. Without embodying their apotheosis, this offering remains a good vintage which should bring back to Bornholm a larger audience. - Official website

BORNHOLM

APOTHEOSIS

NAPALM RECORDS

BLACK METAL