The Konsortium – The Konsortium (2011)

With all the craptastic Black Metal releases coming from Norway (and around the world) these days, it is very hard to find quality albums such as The Konsortium’s self-titled debut release. In this album, the band relies on catchy Thrash-infused Black Metal riffing overlaid with different styles of vocals in order to create a very effective almost Avant-garde Black Metal sound.

Only knowing the identity of one of the band’s mysterious members, we can be assured that the riffing quality is top notch since Teloch handles the guitar duties. The opening number “Gasmask Prince” has a very hectic pace and multi-layered guitars that quickly set this band apart from the rest. The ‘Black Metal vocals’ are pretty standard for the genre, but the combination of whispers and clean sections make them very effective and diverse enough to keep the listener engaged.

Moving along the path of catchy songs, we have “Lik Ulven” and “Under the Black Flag”. In these two songs the riffing makes all the difference in setting the mood and pace for such a well crafted release. Being both fast and ‘evil’ these songs also have enough melodic elements to make them memorable and very fresh sounding. The slower pace of “Decomposers” makes this ‘middle of the album’ song chance the flow of this release very nicely and with its deranged vocals, it’s even creepier than expected.

The slowdown around the ending of “Knokkeklang” makes the mood get weirder and very hypnotic, something totally unexpected considering how fast the song starts. “Slagens Barn” and “Tesla” actually go into Arcturus territories their very weird song structures (almost chaotic, but still very interesting).

If you are a fan of bands like Arcturus, Emperor, and all other more ‘advanced’ Black Metal bands, The Konsortium will fill that void left by most of these bands either disbanding or taking 5 years per release. All of the musicians behind The Konsortium are top notch and the music reflects this. Hurry over the Agonia Records website and order one of the special editions of this great release before they are gone.

Release: August 2nd, 2011

Country: Norway