Taran – Taran

Last Updated on 02:11 PM by Lilliana Tseka

Genre: Black Metal
Country: Poland
Label:Odium Records
Year: 2015

Raw and aggressive black metal that doesn’t take itself lightly. That is what Taran offer us and they don’t seem to be in a negotiable mood in this album. The intro, with sounds of horses and swords and the synths creating a dark atmosphere, is deceptive compared to the music assault that follows, because as soon as it ends and Reign of Hellfire begins we have a noisy onslaught of guitars and drums that leaves us gaping. The entire album continues in the same pattern.

What we have here is fast, noisy and mean black metal with balls that stops for nothing and no one while Taran manage to retain this hatred even when they slightly lower the speed, which isn’t very often. Mother Norway’s influences are clear as day but without straight out copying the holy (or uholy) masters of the genre. They show their love for the scene with the last track which is a cover of Unsilent Storms In The North Abyss from the well known Immortal.

We shouldn’t be surprised by the result achieved in this album by the Poles. Besides, they aren’t new in the field regardless of the long intervals between their releases; notably since 2005 with Devil’s Incarnation, a split with Moontower, they appeared again in 2014 with another split, Live Chaos, where they participated along with Besatt and Det Gamle Besatt.

Overall an amicable release from Poland that stays faithful to the basic principles of black metal and can be comfortably listened to by fans of the genre.

4/6