Clandestine Blaze - Fist of the Northern Destroyer review artwork

Rating: 8.5

Country: Finland

Release Date: 2002

Track list:
1. Fist of the Northern Destroyer
2. Praising the Self
3. Doll of Darkness
4. Ribs of Virgin
5. There Comes the Day
6. Goat - Creative Alienation
7. I Have Seen...

Band Website: Clandestine Blaze

Clandestine Blaze - Fist of the Northern Destroyer

Mikko Aspa: vocals & all instruments

Corpse paint is stupid. I don't believe God exists, nor Satan, and if they did I wouldn't worship either one. Misanthropy? Fuck that; I'm antipathetic, but I'll appreciate who I want to appreciate and hate who I want to hate on the basis of their individual qualities, not while tugging at the leash of someone else's presumptuous philosophy. These factors sometimes make me question my love affair with black metal, which at times -- even in the most prototypical ley lines of its nonlinear first movement -- favors one-dimensional theatrics over music. But at times, on the verge of musical apostasy, a strong wind will knock me back into my former territory like an angry God telling me there are still gems to be found in an otherwise decaying genre. This particular gust reeks to high hell of the blood of all that is impotent and slave-like.

Clandestine Blaze has come a long way from the enjoyable, but deeply flawed Fire Burns in Our Hearts. The songs are now more concise (finally lacking the baggage of randomly inserted three minute acoustic interludes), and there's more crafty interaction between the rhythm guitar and lead work, especially when those Celtic Frost-inspired lurching doom riffs surface. It's also refreshing to see bands who, despite playing what can be very distinctly pigeonholed as black metal, haven't relegated their compositional vocabularies to lightweight tremolo melodies and a rhythm section that boils down to little more than a distant bass-snare-bass-snare cacophony. For instance, with swooping riffs, a serpentine, silvery solo near the end, and even a drum solo thrown in for the hell of it, the song "Ribs of Virgin" actually rocks. However, Clandestine Blaze is never annoyingly self-conscious of being "retro" like recent Carpathian Forest or Craft. That's one of the most appealing things about this album; it's clear Mikko doesn't try to be anything but himself.

With churning arrangements that are organic one second, illogical and almost atonal the next, Fist of the Northern Destroyer (named like a corny martial arts film, a level of awesome I don't have the time to elaborate on right now) elicits the crusty grandeur of Hellhammer without indulging in mere worship like Gallhammer or Tangorodrim. But don't let those immediate comparisons mislead you; the album's aesthetic is predicably more along the lines of second wave black metal, which is relieving in light of its quality, because with the advent of avant-garde, religious, and Silencer-worshipping "suicidal" black metal, it's an endeavor to find any recently active outfits with genuine artistic merit who pledge allegiance to Darkthrone and Mayhem among the ocean of soulless clones who merely strive for emulation. Clandestine Blaze's mournful Finnish leanings in vein of Horna and Satanic Warmaster emerge with the song "I Have Seen", pushing the archetypical Transilvanian Hunger principle of hypnotic repetition to its threshold by blurring the line between black metal and drone with unusual finger-tapping techniques and texturous layers of lead guitar tangled up in trance-like bliss. The song's bridge drifts malevolently in a forlorn haze, until the drums come blasting from the ether under the song's martially restated main riff. Perfection in simplicity; a novel concept, huh? The album's whitewashed, acidy guitar tone assists atmospheric moments like these, as the riffs seem to pulse, rather than buzz.

Vocally, Mikko's pretty much the same he's ever been, emitting gravelly croaks that drip with pride and loathing. His screams are not so much the screams of a metal singer as they are ejaculations of defiance against the cancer that is Abrahamic faith, and the fear and ignorance it perpetuates in all its monotheistic manifestations. He's overall more militant than his crazed Deathspell Omega performances, which is appropriate for black metal this orthodox in structure. Mikko's also extremely clear in his pronounciation, a boon to the thematic overhaul Clandestine Blaze has undertaken. The lyrics have evolved from sophomoric anthems of "BuRn ThEm ChuRcheS" blasphemy, to arrogant declarations of independence from the ultimately false realities of nationality, religion, and any other moral dogma. For example, the sobbing blur of a lead melody hazy enough to have been torn from a stoner metal album featured in "Praising The Self" is contrasted colorfully with egotistical musing: "No God, no religion, no race, no culture... I glorify myself! I satisfy myself! I am not lower than your God." Brilliant.

On the subject of the lyrics, for some reason people tend to lump Mikko into the stagnant NSBM scene, a fallacy if there ever was one; Clandestine Blaze's ideology is utterly alien to politics and racial consciousness. That isn't to say Fist of the Northern Destroyer is devoid of caustic, extreme lyrical content, though. If you have a problem with religious intolerance, approach this album with caution, but be aware of your own hypocrisy. A lot of people have no problem with Christianity being attacked and lampooned in metal, yet for some reason cry intolerance when the doctrine of Islam or Judaism takes a hit. If you expect certain faiths to be treated with PC kids' gloves and think others are licensed to be skewered on the basis of what tradition deems acceptable or unacceptable, that's where real intolerance starts.

Despite being doomed to be overlooked as just another Clandestine Blaze release, Fist of the Northern Destroyer is a stalwart avatar of the intolerance and otherworldly glory black metal once represented with the resolution of a steamroller plowing through a preschool, without leaning on the image of anything but a ski mask and pair of iron knuckles. If you don't like this album, feel free to cartwheel through traffic.

November 18th, 2007