As a sort of Watain fangirl, it can be hard to listen to their albums quasi-objectively. Luckily for me, Lawless Darkness is amazing. This is definitely the black metal album of the year.
For those not familiar with Watain, the band features bassist E, of Dissection fame. It's pure fucking Swedish black metal at it's finest. No keyboards, no shitty wind tunnel production, no Varg cobra vocals. Pure fucking evil black metal.
This album kicks you in the teeth right off the bat and never lets go. The drum sound is clean, it's not super blasting, but H's drums fit the tone of the album. There's more lead work, which I appreciate. This album has melody! But it's still evil as fuck. E's vocals are loud and fucking clear. The lyrics are dark. The whole album is incredibly well composed, well written and basically the epitome of modern black metal.
Reaping Death sets the bar high for modern black metal. Four Thrones is probably my favorite song on the album. I banged my head relentlessly through the whole album. The only downside is the second half of title track Lawless Darkness. There's no vocals, no real lead, it just kind of drones on. It's not bad for background noise, but it's not engaging or interesting. To be honest, all of the songs are long (album clocks on at 1 hr 13 min- at least 20 min longer than the last two). But, that certainly doesn't mean they're not good.
Waters of Ain, at 14 min, is the most ambitious Watain song yet. I expected something long, boring opus type thing, but it's not. It's punishing. It's interesting. It's an opus- a brilliant black metal masterpiece.
Overall, this CD fucking slays. It sets the bar wicked high for modern black metal. Give it a spin, it'll kick your face in.
9/10 pig heads.
-The PitGoddess
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