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Alruin (2012+)

Alruin - Beraadslaging der Naargeestigheid Beraadslaging der naargeestigheid

split TAPE 2013: Boecx / Eeuwig / Alruin by Zwaertgevegt (limited to 66 copies)

7: Een vergeten nacht
8: Verdorven grond

line-up:
Aurora (vocals, guitars, drum programming)
- alias of Kenneth




Review: Boecx kicks off with echo-y black metal, where everything seems to be recorded from afar. The drums are badly audible, except for the snare drum, the vocals are croaking away in the distance, and the guitars are hollow but not shrill and sound far away. Still, Boecx sounds pretty interesting, until you realise that there’s only one or two riffs per song (first track 1, second track 2 but they just split the song (not like a chorus), third track 1 with a relatively short second riff in the middle). Since the riffs are quite traditional - but nothing like one-and-two-riff masters Von - the songs can get boring after a few minutes. The fact that the vocals are often too far away to get noticed, does not work in their advantage...

Eeuwig has a much better sound than Boecx (except for the vocals, which are still pushed to the back) and, after having checked out the three bands, should have opened the tape. This band has a similar echo-y approach but manages to put in audible drums and a more powerful sound. Like Boecx the amount of riffs is quite small per song, but that’s not really annoying here – we’re used to this kind of songwriting in black metal. The third track is a good cover of Von’s Watain, and it fits in well with the two Eeuwig-tracks.

Alruin is very, very similar to Boecx in sound, but just several steps slower, but this sound has the unique quality to fit both fast and slow songs. Having listened to all three bands on this split, I think we are dealing with three projects spawning from the same mind. The similarities cannot be dismissed as coincidence.

Source: NLBMe exclusive, March 2018.