Znafelriff – Ruin (2015)

Allegedly formed in Svalbard, Norway (but since then relocated to Germany), today we have hyper-raw Black Metal outfit Znafelriff and their crushing 5-song EP titled “Ruin”. Crafting their sound to be as raw and DYI as possible, the band actually manages to create some very old-school sounding music that will infuse nightmares to the uninitiated.

Opening with the old-school Satyricon-esque “Heisere Stille”, the band instantly creates a dark shroud of distortion and rawness around their sound. The recording quality is decent enough to be able to tell all the elements apart, but raw enough to sound trve kvlt. The same rawness is continued with the Immortal-esque “Ruin”, however, the sound quality seems to have become even more trve as we needed to raise the volume on our speakers to continue to enjoy this release.

Providing the listener with a breather thanks to the instrumental “Abgrund”, the band returns in full force with the blast beats of “Graues Land” and the thick and depraved atmosphere of “Eismeer aus Angst”. The band nicely combines raw power with atmospheric elements to craft very engaging and punishing sounding music to close this release. Overall, “Ruin” is a pretty solid EP from a relatively unknown band that should be on your underground music radar. If you like old-school raw Black Metal, head over to their bandcamp page and get a digital download of this release.

Label: Self-Released

Release: Jan 1st, 2015

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Germany