Bland Vargar/Perpetual Return/Caligari Records/2014 Cassette Review

  Bland  Vargar  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  that plays   a  very  raw  and  epic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  cassette  "Perpetual  Return"  which  was  released  by  Caligari  Records.

  Dark  nature  sounds  and  winds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  classical  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  a  minute  the  music  starts  going  into  a  fast,  raw  and  melodic  black  metal  direction  along  with  some  grim  high  pitched  screams  as  well  as  adding  in  blast  beats  as  well  as  some  melodic  guitar leads  shortly  after  that.

  As  the  album  progresses  the  band  starts  adding  in  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  adding  melodic  clean  singing  vocals  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  they  also  bring  back  the  classical  guitars  at  times  to  add  more  variety  to  their  musical  sound  as  well  as  bringing  in  elements  of  folk  and  progressive  rock.

  Whispers  are  utilized  briefly  and  they  bring  another  form  of  grimness  into  the  bands  musical  style  and  on  one  of  the  later  tracks  during  an  acoustic  song  the band  add s in  a  psychedelic  sounding guitar  lead  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length,  after  being  in  an  acoustic  direction  for  awhile  the  band  does  return  full  force  to  a  melodic  and  raw  black  metal  sound  on  the  later  tracks  as  well  as  adding  in  some  very  powerful  sounding  bass  guitars  and  towards  the  end  of  the  album  the  music  returns  back  to  a  folk  music  direction.

  Bland  Vargar  create  a  very  diverse  sounding  album  this  time  around  remaining  true  to  their  raw  and  epic  black  metal  sound  while  also  having  more  progressive  rock  and  folk  music  elements  in  their  songs,  the  production  has  a  very  dark,  heavy  and  powerful  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover  wolves,  nature  and  inner  struggles.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Bland  Vargar  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  raw  and  epic  black  metal.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Bruma (Of  Wolf  And  The  Hunt)"  and  "Requiem".  8/5  out  of  10.

http://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/perpetual-return

Bland Vargar Interview

1.Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

Well, not much to say: Bland Vargar started out in Bologna, Italy, in autumn 2010 from the ashes of another project who has never seen the light. We are: Varg D. (bass/vocals), Varg C (guitar), Varg A (guitar), Varg L (drums).

Until now we released only a DIY Ep "Notturno 11" in 2012 and we're waiting that the French label "Le Crèpuscule Du Soir" will reissue it in 2013 plus an unreleased track as bonus.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?
Epic raw black metal with some ambient and folk elements.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Our lyrics are a Varg D. creation: it focuses on wolves, nature and winter as a metaphor of all surround us. It's a tale of wolves which actually reflects on human behaviours and the obscurity of personal issues and inner struggles. There's a thin connection between almost all Bland Vargar lyrics.
4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?


Bland Vargar means "among wolves" in Swedish. The name takes up the concept of the lyrics (see the answer #3).

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?


We played our first gig in December 2012 in Bologna with the mighty old school black/thrash sensation Bunker 66 and with our friends and great band Barbarian. After that just a bunch of shows during 2013 in north Italy, hoping to increase our number of concerts in the next future.
During our live performances the main feeling we try to convey is the same feeling of darkness which is inside our music.
We don't like to play long shows, so, since the length of our songs is between 11 and 16 minutes, we usually play 2 songs with an Intro.

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?


We started during May 2013 the recordings of our first full length called "Perpetual Return" which will be finished before the end of 2013. We would like to support the release of the album with an European Tour, probably Spring 2014. That's our plan, but, you know, plans are made to be changed...


7.According to the fb page, you are singed to Iconoclast Records, can you tell us a little bit more about the label?


Actually we have not signed to Iconoclast Records. The connection is that two members of the band (me and Varg D.) run this label. Iconoclast Records focuses its sound into extreme and dark music, no matter if it's black, death or doom metal, or folk. Is no concidence if Bland Vargar music perfectly fits this idea.
At the moment we released LP's for bands such as Undead Creep, Eibon, Embers, Aesahaettr, Sangre De Muerdago, Usurpress, Black September, Bhopal...By the way we still don't know if BV next releases will be on Iconoclast.
For who is more interested in the label check our website www.iconoclastrecords.org

8.On all the websites I have seen so far, the band is against Nazi's, Racism and Facsism, can you tell us a little bit more about those views?


I'll be brief. We have specified it since we do not want have anything to do with NSBM, nazi and fascist bands/idiots/whatever. Black metal is sadly infested with these ideologies.


9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?

I don't know. We're a new and obscure band. Pretty sure we're not so well known worldwide: we never played gigs out of Italy and we only released an EP at the moment. But I can say that "Notturno 11" until now has always received nice reviews and the band has received always positive feedbacks. We are very pleased with this and we would like to thanks everybody who have spent nice words to us. This is a great incentive to go ahead with Bland Vargar.

10.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?


Hard to say...we don't want to look too far. First of all we don't want to put ourselves any kind of lmit in our music, moreover, our lives influence so much our music that is impossible to predict which direction will take our next releases since we don't know what will happen to our future. Meanwhile, for those who are curious to know which way will take Bland Vargar, I suggest to buy a copy of our next full length "Perpetual Return". Recordings will be completed during the following months, and I hope the record will see the light in the beginning of 2014.

11.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?


Bland Vargar loves Ulver, Dissection, Bathory, Darkthrone 90's period, Satyricon early stuff, Angantyr, Xasthur, early Katatonia, etc...but we take inspiration also from other musical styles such as folk, 70's and psychedelic music. It's no coincidence that we play live a Pink Floyd song as intro of our set. They influenced me so much! I personally listen to a lot of old music, mostly between 60's and 70's but I grew up with punk, crust, doom and death metal. Some of my favourite bands of all time besides the above mentioned are Black Sabbath, Discharge, Motorhead, Entombed, Hawkwind and many others. I spend most of my time listening to music and I prefer to avoid a kilometric list of bands that I listen to.

12.Does Paganism or Occultism play any role in your music?


No. I prefer to believe in myrself insted of any god or magician.

13.Outside of music what are some of your interests?


Mountains, sea, THC..

14.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?


Thanks  for the chance to talk a bit about Bland Vargar! For those are interested in the band here's some links:
http://blandvargar.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/blandvargar

Don't miss "Notturno 11" reissue out soon on Le Crèpuscule Du Soir and stay tuned for our next release!

Cheers

Varg C.

Bland Vargar/Notturno 11/2012 Ep Review

  Bland  Vargar  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  very  epic  form  of  raw  and  primitive  black  metal  with  elements  of  dark  ambient  and  folk  music  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2012  ep  "Notturno  11".

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  some  blast  beats  being  utilized  at  times  as  well  as  some  tribal  sounding  percussion,  while  the  keyboards  bring  a  very  epic,  dark,  atmospheric  and  ambient  sound  to  the  music  along  with  a  brief  use  of  bells,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  are  coming  out  of  the  guitars.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  black  metal  riffs  that  are  very  raw  and  primitive  sounding  while  adding  in  melody  and  epic  elements   to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  melodic  sounding  black  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for the  acoustic  guitars  when  they  are  utilized  use  finger  picking  to  bring  the  folk  music  elements  to  the  ep.

  Vocals  are  mostly  grim  sounding  black  metal  screams  with  some  spoken  word  parts  being  used  briefly  on  the  last  song,  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Latin  and  cover  Wolves,  Nature,  and  Inner  Struggles,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  with  the  songs  being  very  long  in  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Bland  Vargar  are  a  very  great  sounding  epic,  raw  and  primitive  black  metal  band  with  elements  of  dark  ambient  and  folk  music  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Noir".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Bandcamp

Facebook