FŌR - Blakaz Askǭ Hertô (2013)
Iron Bonehead Productions
Review by Jude Felton
Image and genre are two areas that all bands fall into, whether they
like it or not. Even those so-called mysterious bands that never fully reveal
themselves in photographs have an image. As soon as the camera clicks, or an
interview is given, an image will be formed and opinions made. There’s nothing
wrong with that, at all, as the only way to be completely devoid of any sort of
image or pigeon-holing is to not actually release or do anything, which defeats
the purpose of everything.
This, loosely, brings me around to FŌR, a band of which I
personally know very little about, although more than you think, and it’s a
blessing to say the least. I’ve yet to see pictures of the band, any genre
labeling I have seen, from the band itself, is fairly vague, and it’s only
really the band logo that really give any hints, and even then that is
deceptive.
Self-described as “cryptic, cavernous, death”, they couldn’t really be
any closer to the truth. Blakaz Askǭ Hertô opens with almost three
minutes of pain and suffering, with the title track; an almost dirge-like
excursion into hell. From here on in it only gets darker, as the low-as-fuck
guitar sound forge forward on the fine line between music and pain.
When it comes to the vocals, it’s as if they are calling up from the
very depths of the bottomless chasm that his EP was no doubt recorded in. And,
it all works perfectly. Some bands hone an image of darkness and how damned
evil they are, and then you see them plastered on magazine covers, with each
pose carefully choreographed. That’s absolutely grand; I understand that some
bands make a living from their craft and more power to them. With FŌR,
and Blakaz Askǭ Hertô, it truly does sound evil; it will make you feel
uncomfortable.
There are five tracks here, including the extended intro/title track,
and not once does the menace let up. Blackened death with elements of doom and
industrial dirges, drag the listener to places they might not want to visit.
This EP will certainly confuse some and scare others, the rest of us? Hell, we’ll
buckle up for the ride and revel in its malicious impurity.
Am I overselling this? Maybe I am, but then I don’t have the benefit of
corpse paint or stage blood to accompany my point. Instead, my filthy friends,
I just have the music, and that is quite simply superb.
Track List:
1. Blakaz Askǭ Hertô
2. The Ravenous Chasm
3. Descending Obfuscated Realms
4. Chthonian Initiation
5. Lineage of the Amorphous
Blakaz Askǭ Hertô is available on download from Iron Bonehead Productions, with a vinyl release set for November.
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