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Abkher - In Blut

 

The third album by German underground honorary pacific northwest cascadian band Abkher is upon us, and it is really cool.

They continue the Darkthrone influenced Graupel worship of their earlier albums. But now a serious cascadian vibe emerges, riding the cymbals into a low end heavy bass-driven maelstrom.

There is this thing that I now think of as defining in the Cascadian black metal sound - where the cymbals stand in for the rider's whip and the kick drum and bass guitar mimic the gallop of the horse - the drummers "gallop" but expanded to two instruments and from a fill to the actual core of the song. Maybe I'm not explaining it well, I'm not a musician. But, this album is a really great example of how to turn that combo into a sound. A creepy, moody, yet intensely driving sound.


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