Permafrost/I Challenge The Light Of God/Darker Than Black Records/2019 CD Review

  Permafrost  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  raw  and  melodic  form  of  satanic  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "I  Challenge  The  Light  Of  God"  which  was  released  by  Darker  Than  Black  Records.

  Tragic  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  album  along  with  a  brief  use  of  whispered  vocals  as  well  as  introducing  melodic  guitar  leads  onto  the  recording  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  direction.  During  the  faster  sections  of  the  music  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  feeling.

  Vocals  are  mostly  grim  sounding  black  metal  screams  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody.  Semi  Melodic  vocals  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music  along  with  some  clean  playing  also being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  songs  also add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow, mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Some  of  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  palm  muting  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  heavier  edge as  well  as  a  touch  of  thrash  metal  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  can  also  be  heard  along  with  a  couple  of  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length,  one  of  the  songs  is  also  an  instrumental.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism,  Left  Hand  Path,  Darkness,  Apocalyptic  and  Blasphemous  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Permafrost  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  raw,  melodic  and  satanic  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  the  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dreaming  On"  "The  Burning  Children  Of  Moloch"  and  "Lord  Of  The  Apocalypse".  8  out  of  10.

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Permafrost Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
After the recording we started to rehearse for some small gigs and now we are working
on new stuff.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
All of our releases are small pieces of a never ending puzzle. All pieces are different and symbolize other parts of the whole picture. With every release we are getting closer to that what we want to be (spirituality/sound/lyrics/professionality and so on)

3.Your lyrics cover a great amount of satanic, luciferian and occult themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?
All my life I was searching for more than this normal/profane life and I always felt there is more behind the mask. Since I was young I sensed something dark and in all ways negative to the world of matter. It encompasses us, it is in me and so I started to get in contact with this forces in all possible ways.
All of our lyrics on Spiritual Isolation are about this forces. It´s all about the end of this world and how I can get part of its destroying. I try to give no focus on other aspects, because for me black metal must be satanic and destructive in all ways!

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Permafrost'?
For me it's that part of me/heart/soul that is not human and frozen to death!

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We are no performers! We are Maniac´s the last years we didn’t played much live, but the best show (for me personally) was the Show with Nawaharjan this year!

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
No, unfortunately there are only some small concerts we play the next time...but if someone is interested to book permafrost should contact us.

7.The new album was self released but the band has experiences working with labels, are you open to working with another label again in the future or do you prefer the independent route  a lot more?
The new album is co-released by DTB Records and Knochensack. If you work with underground labels you always have the freedom you need as band. So we will again release our stuff on a label in the future.

8.One of the band members also runs 'Satan Fights Humanity Records' what are some of the current bands that you are working with on the label and what are some of the releases you plan to release during the later part of 2015?
 FH-Rec. is more or less on hold. I will only release some tapes in future but I don’t have the time for the work with the label. And if you don’t have the time you should stop  it, money doesn't matter! I want to support the bands on the label as good as I can and I feel at this point it’s not enough.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the newer album by fans of black
metal?
That's not easy to say. From our point of view it's always good feedback. But people who don't like it, would not contact us. But I don’t think it is important what other people think about our music and what they believe to know about our spirituality.

10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part off?
All other projects are on hold and at this point Permafrost has major priority.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We are still on our path to destroy the world and as long as they exist, we will fight against the gods of light and the world of matter. So we will never give up our audio visual war!

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your current music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We listen to much different music styles. We like different kinds of metal, old Psychedelic/Progressive Rock or Classic stuff like Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. But most of time I spent with Black Metal! There are a few bands we like but I will only name one of them: Dissection...

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for your interest! Hail Satan! Hail Chaos!

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Permafrost/Spiritual Isolation/2015 CD Review

  Permafrost  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  very  raw,  melodic  and  satanic  form of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  album  "Spiritual  isolation".

  A  very  dark  and  atmospheric  ambient  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  into  a  more  heavy  and  melodic  musical  direction  which  leads  up  to  a  very  fast  and  raw  black  metal  style  that  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  high  pitched  screams  and  blast  beats  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Most  of  the  music  has  a  mid  90's  European  black  metal  feeling  and  clean  playing  and  whispers  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording,  the  guitar  solos  that  are  utilized  are  in  a  very  dark  and  melodic  musical  direction  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

   Some  of  the  songs  use  deeper  vocals  along  with  a  touch  of  death  metal influences  and  the  synths  from the  intro  also  make  a  return  in  certain  sections  of  the recording  and  some  of  the  later  tracks  also  show  the  vocals  going  into  more  of  a  grim  direction along  with  a  small  amount  of  melodic  chants  abs  as  the  album  progresses  some  of  the  riffs  also  mix  in  more  of  a  thrash  feeling  into  a  very  dark  and  melodic  style  of  black  metal  and  the  vocals  also  get  more  depressive almost  towards  the  end  and  there  are  also  a  few  tracks  that are  very  long  and  epic  in length.

  Permafrost  plays  a  style  of  black  metal  that  is  mostly  fast,  raw  and  melodic  but  also  manages  to  capture  a  very  occult  sounding  atmosphere  with  their  music  style,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  yet  heavy  at  the  sane  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism,  Luciferian, Occultism,  Blasphemy,  Sickness  and  Depression  themes.

  In my  opinion  Permafroat  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  melodic  satanic  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "King  Of  The  Serpents"  "Ave  Satan  Lucifer" "Dragon Of  The  Other  Side"  and  "Blood  Sacrifice".  8/5  out  of  10.   

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