Kozeljnik – Deeper the Fall (2010)

In these times where most Black Metal bands are still doing what somebody else already did in the past, it’s very difficult to find something worth listening to and spending our hard earned money. Kozeljnik from Serbia might have a shot at being one of those few bands that are worth your money and your time.

“Deeper the Fall” is an album that while not original by any means, it does a great job in recapitulating what we all have experience in the last 10-15 years of Black Metal. The band merges Satyricon-style grooviness with different styles of singing and random elements that have worked for the genre in different occasions.

The band exploits almost every trick in the book and paired with some raw-sounding guitars. Lets’ go over the list: classical instruments (yes, in “Deeper the Fall”), clean vocals (yes, throughout the album), vocal layering (yes, throughout the album), ‘clear’ rhythmical sections ala Immortal/Satyricon (yes, most notably “The Truth is Death”), and so many other clichés of the genre that you will stop counting after a while.

While the band does a solid job in mixing everything together they do have a weak point, the vocals are pretty sucky in our opinion. While some of the ‘deeper’ screams are good, their combination with ‘shrieks’ is sad. The clean vocals are pretty solid (i.e. Void to Final Consumption”)  but they get drowned as soon as the harsh vocals start, maybe replacing the vocalist would do wonders for this band.

There are definitely some epic parts like the section close to the ending of “Deeper the Fall”, a brilliant melodic section with a creepy-as-shit atmosphere. This song is by far in our opinion the best song in this release as a whole, since it shows ‘traditional’ elements but used in a majestic fashion to create a powerful atmospheric creepiness.

The other drawback in this release is the weird production behind it, sometimes is sounds very powerful and other times it kind of wobbles around and the mix is very flat. We don’t know what this is due to, but it does not help the band’s case in this release. We feel that with a more consistent mixing the band would sound a lot better.

If you are looking for a hybrid clone between Satyricon, Immortal, Gorgoroth, Dark Funeral with some Marduk genes, look no further and get this release since it will please you all night long. If you don’t like ‘vanilla’ Black Metal, then just avoid this album and hope for something better to be released in the next few months.

Release: June 21st, 2010

Country: Serbia