Rating: 7.5

Country: Germany

Release Date: 2006

Record Label: Grief Foundation

Track list:
1. Allerwachen
2. Aber aus der Asche wird ein Schwan entstehen
3. Antiochia

Total playing time 32:59

Band Website: Bann

Bann - Antiocha

Thurn - All instruments, compositions and drum programming
Hoffarth - Vocals
S. Adolph - Additional drum programming
D. Droste - Solo guitar on tracks I and III

And here we have another excellent folkloric black metal band from Germany that draws favorable comparisons with early Bergthron and Kermania, although their sound is slightly more medieval rather than the more pre-christian atmosphere of the aforementioned bands.

Starting out with lush yet ominous synths, while the thick, mid-paced drum-track fades in, Bann produces a movie-soundtrack quality atmosphere right from the get go. The synths quickly make way for the heavy guitars, which contain that by now familiar Germanic grandness, while the programmed drums speed up to a thumping gallop. A short while later there is a sudden break as violins play a short but enormously epic crescendo, and the song proper seems to start with predominantly open chords (there's preciously little tremolo employed on Antiocha, which is refreshing to say the least) playing a melancholic tune in tandem with background piano and flute, serving as the basic leitmotif that returns numerous times throughout this long, first track, alternating with more ambient sections, acoustic meanderings and the thunderous riffs with which the song opened. There's also a very rousing lead-guitar part during one of the later faster sections that's specially provided by a guest musician which serves as the icing on the cake. I wish more black metal bands would use such significant lead guitar progressions.

The second track continues in much the same vein, albeit in a less gloomy and far more aggressive manner. Again, the guitars mostly play long, dirgelike open chords, with most of the melody provided by the piano. So, if you're the sort that needs riffs, riffs and more riffs, you might become a bit bored, but anyone with a liking for black and doom metal bands that are all about overwhelming, immersive atmosphere will feel immediately at home with the material on display here.

The closing title track starts out in a typically Burzumic manner, with the same guitar-chord being struck for about three minutes before dropping a bar and adding some depressive keyboard tinkling. It's only when the five minute mark is upon us that the guitars gain slightly more complexity, with another fantastic lead guitar guest appearance at the midway point. It's easy enough to do this kind of stuff completely wrong and thereby create a jawnfest of epic proportions, but Bann's proficiency with creating ambience ensures that the attention is held throughout, although I must say that on the whole I prefer the slightly more active earlier two songs to this one.

This being in essence a demo release, you can easily notice that Bann is still trying to discover its voice, especially considering the slight stylistic difference between the first two tracks, which were written near the end of 2004 and the final track, which was written about two years later. Production wise, they've managed to create a very professional sound, with the guitars in particular benefiting from a tone that is both fuzzed out, while still being pretty thick and powerful, creating a room filling ambience that greatly suits this type of metal. The drums, while programmed, do not sound overly synthetic and have a naturalistic thump to them instead of the rickety-click sound most often associated with fake drums. The synths meanwhile would not sound out of place in a big-budget movie soundtrack, which contributes enormously to the immersion factor and props must be given for the restraint in using them; many bands would have smothered the recording with overbearing synths, but Bann uses them solely in a supportive role, giving centre stage to the guitars. Finally the vocals, which are a workmanlike black metal screech in the middle ground of the recording. Not terribly exciting, but they serve their purpose.

This is another obscure up and coming black metal band which positively surprised me and they've definitely wetted my appetite enough with this demo ‘ep' (being over thirty minutes long I'd hesitate to actually call it an ep, but it's what the band describes it as), so I'll keep my eyes open for their upcoming full length, which will be entitled Aeschatologia. I just hope it resembles the first two tracks more than the last one, which really could do with a bit more variance and a bit less Burzum.

October 28th, 2007