Tartarus - Of Grimness and Atrocity (EP) review
Band: Tartarus
Album: Of Grimness and Atrocity (EP)Genre: Black Metal
Country: UAE
Release Date: July 31st, 2014
Label: Haarbn Productions
Reviewer: Karim Tarek
Rating: 8.5/10
Hailing from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tartarus is one of
the newest Black Metal bands to the Middle Eastern scene. With Zymolust
Ravenson on guitars and vocals, Kris Kudla on guitars, Rippon
"Obscurus" Madtha on drums, and Bader "Ghocifer" Nauman on
bass duties, Tartarus was founded back in 2013 and have only just released
their first EP this month.
Entitled “Of Grimness and Atrocity”, the 5-song EP that resembles
quite a head start for such a promising band that seemingly has a lot to offer in
the future.
The EP starts off with a mystic intro track called “Seeshot” that
delivers nothing more than an ambient noise accompanied by some indistinct
high-pitched speech that gets you excited and tingled knowing that there is
some serious blasting on its way to your ears.
The second track of the EP is called “Axes (of Hatred)”. It
starts off as a typical mid-tempo Black Metal song with some very wise
placements of drum lines and vocal efforts. After it had given you the
impression of a mediocre non-aggressive Black Metal endeavor, there comes the
first blast beat line of the EP that would normally render you hopeful of a
more aggressive, fast-paced release, but then again “Axes (of Hatred)” further
advances with the same original pace it started off with, which personally made me doubtful of my prospective level of enjoyment of the EP.
The following two tracks “Cosmic Storms” and the title track
“Of Grimness and Atrocity” came to negate such theory of the EP being rather
mediocre and generally mid-tempo. Reminiscent of the golden era of Black Metal,
the early 1990s Scandinavian wave, Tartarus managed to change the direction of
the EP to the better throughout those two
particular tracks. Drumming turned out to be pretty bestial, just like pure
Black Metal percussion should be, along with riffs that sounded like they came
straight from hell. Moreover, the two tracks managed to capture the evil quintessence
of genuine Black Metal, reflecting obvious influences by legendary bands
like Dissection, Emperor, and Lord Belial.
Adding a cherry on top of the cake, Tartarus ended the EP
with a cover of one of Black Metal’s timeless songs and Emperor’s all-time gem,
“I Am the Black Wizards”. The cover was pretty simple, precise, and consummate
in terms of the delivery of all the main elements that made up such a track
that nears perfection.
All in all, Tartarus is a very promising band that brings
back memories from an era that is typically a favorite for diehard Black Metal
fans, adopting all the grimness, evil, and genuineness of the genre. Having
covered an Emperor track hints that they are following the right influences. I
personally enjoyed listening to “Of Grimness and Atrocity” and I believe that
it reflected a huge amount of potential that the band could achieve in their
promising future, raising the bar of expectations for yet another release.
Highlights: Of Grimness and Atrocity
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