Torch of War - The Principle of Cosmic Instability review artwork

Rating: 4.5

Country: Germany

Release Date: 2007

Track list:
1. What Is Sleeping In Bloodlines
2. Wolf Among Sheep
3. Deserted and Hostile
4. Blazing Wounds of Earth
5. Such A Terrible Cold
6. The Principle of Cosmic Instability 7. The Struggle Inborn
8. Primitive Regression of Purest Survival

Total playing time: 35:18

Band Website: Torch of War

Torch of War - The Principle of Cosmic Instability

F. Nachzehrer - everything

Once in a great while, that one innovative, boundary-shattering black metal album will come along and force us to redefine the ways we think about the genre's constructs, and to question its very centricity as an artistic movement. This is a black metal album.

Torch of War belongs to that ultra-elite and/or grim handful of black metal acts who are so black, they forgot all about that whole "metal" part. There's more of an emphasis on abrasive tremolo buzz than riffs here, which sometimes go through the motion of a sing-songy Nattens Madrigal-esque melody, and other times, in the case of the last song, fall upon a scuzzy forcefield of psychosimple one-riff war metal minimalism a la Revenge and Von. The bass, as per usual in raw black metal, seems like a faint obligation trailing behind the guitars, while Nachzehrer's rasp creaks painfully throughout. The (most likely programmed) skinpounding leaps between distant snare abuse and d-beat battery, only doing anything interesting with the recurring bass drum warpound in the song "The Struggle Inborn," but the fact drums are irrelevant in this kind of black metal is simply a matter of style.

Music this minimalistic can't risk wasting a note, which is where Torch of War falls flat. These songs could be anywhere from three to eight minutes with no significant alteration in the expression of Nachzehrer's artistic vision. For example, the song "Wolf Among Sheep" is a rather valid piece, opening with an adventurous, melancholic hook -- certainly the best and most well defined riff on the album -- but the song's laced with meandering filler and just drags on... and on... Sure, this kind of bleak expressionism worked when Darkthrone, Thorns and Burzum were doing it in 1994... when I was learning cursive in grade school.

I'm all for artists who dismiss experimentation and revel in traditionalism, when they do it right. Take modern neo-second wave acts like Blodulv, Satanic Warmaster, Dodsferd, and Somrak [review] (namedropping a promo, I somehow feel like the circle is complete), for example; they take the pre-2000 sounds they like and twist them into albums with their own sonic identities, rather than simply pander to the nostalgia of disillusioned norskaryskblakkmetal devotees by paraphrasing Transilvanian Hunger. To breathe life into old cliches is an act of love for the music you play; to simply blow the dust and cobwebs off is an act of antiquarianism.

On a brighter note, the production hurts so good. Think back to the last raw, demo-quality black metal album you heard. This is probably twice as trebly and brittle. Honestly, when I'm listening to this album, my mental facilities are more occupied by the headache I'm slowly developing by subjecting my eardrums to such shrill noise than the by-the-numbers Darkthrone/Judas Iscariot worship at the core of what I'm hearing. Every time this CD skips, I actually involuntarily flinch. Noise fanatics, masochists, and Guantanamo Bay, take note.

I must give The Principle of Cosmic Instability some credit, as it does get pretty absurd in its ear-grating extremity (if you're into that sorta thing), and Nachzehrer clearly understands the form of the music, but I can only wholeheartedly recommend this drab affair to those who worship at the altar of early Darkthrone with a level of enthusiasm that renders monotony imperceivable.

January 30th, 2008