Rating: 9.0

Country: Holland

Release Date: 2007

Record Label: Carnal Records

Track list:
1. Know My Word Is His
2. Crowning The Swarm
3. Secrets Divine
4. Council Of The Impious (Vicarius Filii Dei)
5. Deformed Source Of Creation
6. The Great Destroyer
7. 7
8. Cognosce Semitas Meas


Band Website: Sauron

Sauron - The Channeling Void

Herr AIDS: Bassquakes
Sunless: Deathsaw
Ludas: Blasphemy
Eclipse: Throat & Deathsaw

Holland has a rather small but significant underground scene and with this release Sauron catapults itself instantly to its upper echelons. Although they started out as a decent but somewhat unspectacular Marduk-like act, they've since grown into their own to a remarkable extent. Yes, they still play a predominantly blasting type of black metal heavily inspired by Sweden's more aggressive acts (with Funeral Mist being perhaps the most obvious one), but any complaints of too much similarity are summarily dismissed after listening to a couple of tracks. If anything they actually sound more intense and focused than their Swedish peers on this record. A far greater deal of thought seems to have gone into the songwriting process than you're likely to hear in any Marduk album (no simple blast-blast-raargh crap here), while on the other hand they don't fuck around with entirely superfluous segments or overly sappy melodious riffs that have infected this type of metal since Dissection reared its ugly head. Indeed, in getting straight to the point they show a particularly Dutch character trait; you get the job done, thoroughly and expertly, and any point you make, you make bluntly and directly.

And, unholy fucking hell, do they make their points bluntly! As bluntly as tank-treads smearing your head to a bloody paste over the concrete. The dual guitars sound thick and heavy, conjuring up wild, unsubtle and extremely dark riffs the entirety of the album, vocalist Eclipse alternating between a hoarse screaming and a more authoritative guttural barking, backed by a surprisingly technical bass-guitar pulse and a titanically massive sounding drumset; no clickety-click machine-aided nonsense here, but pure, primal destruction, each strike on the drums sounding like a bomb-shell tearing up your city. The production has been expertly handled by the guys at Necromorbus' studio (a recurring theme in my recent reviews apparently) and you can rest assured that the sound fits the intent of the album; clear yet very nasty in sound, every instrument (including the bass) getting its chance to contribute to the inferno. Again, even though this album is set to speed ‘blast' for about three-quarters of its duration, the songwriting is intricate enough to keep your attention the whole way through, with not a single second wasted to too much repetition and every devastating riff appearing long enough to leave a lasting impression, with slower, crushing segments providing well-needed breaks between the whirlwind riffing. Also note that while the word ‘blasting' may be used to describe the speed of the drumming, there is thankfully preciously little reliance on the traditional snare-saturated blast-beat technique, with plenty of vicious pummeling and technical fills added to the assault.

There's really little more to add to that. The Channeling Void is monstrously aggressive and destructive for its entire duration, while being intelligent and atmospheric enough to remain engaging for its entire run time of forty-five minutes. If you spit at the current crop of mopey suicidal acts, pseudo-intellectual technical wankfests, and sleep-inducing ‘ambient-black metal' myspace abortions, and have grown similarly weary of the blasturbating grind-core shite passing itself off as aggressive black metal, you'd do well to look into Sauron; they are violence with a brain, wasting not a single note in their effort to lay waste to your senses and destroy you. Recommended with the most extreme prejudice imaginable.

July 20th, 2007