Watain – Lawless Darkness

There is also an ninth press limited to 850 copies.

Pojebało was z tą blokadą sprzedaży już doszczętnie! Inne wydania tego albumu są, ale tego, z jakiegoś tajemniczego powodu, nie ma!

If you're a black metal purist this is probably not going to be your favorite. It's a lot more expansive that most primitive black metal, meaning that there are time/tempo changes, some prog sensibility & elements of thrash. Great fucking collection of songs.

There is also an Eighth press limited to 500 copies.

Most of the songs are simply quite uninteresting. The overall feeling is "easy listening", to the point of thinking why am I not instead listening to, for example, the later records of Behexen. This is caused by the dull Necromorbus studio sound: everything sounds watered down and boring. This doesn't sound any wild or interesting. There are some good songs and many good riffs, but the overall sound makes the whole uninteresting. The good elements raise the grade to 3-/5 - at max.

Gatefold inside is looking absolutely perfect. A lot of drawings and foto of Watain .
In my opinion instruments arent very selective and vocal is much too silent...

Didn't this version come packaged with the "Black Metal Militia" patch?

next to Nightbringer - Ego Dominus Tuus original LP on Daemon Worship Productions, this is the most impressive looking package in black metal.

Super, super cheaply made. Single insert, no foldout, all black and white.

The fact that Watain won the swedish Grammy Award for best 'Hard Rock' with this album was something that upset many so-called "true" black metal fans. However, if those people would really take the time to sit down and listen to this album without any preconceptions or knowledge of said award, I'm pretty sure they would appreciate it. The reason I think this is because it truly is an amazing album. In fact, the grammy award isn't at all something that makes Watain less "true". They are as true as a black metal band can possibly be, and they don't compose music with the intention of winning awards - they do it to express their spirituality and to spread their satanic message. People who are still doubting their "trueness" should take the time to read the lyrics and also to look up some of the countless interviews with frontman Erik Danielsson and realize that 1) they couldn't care less about the award, 2) they (like any true artist) always do what they feel is right and don't give a fuck about what other people think they should do, and 3) that Watain is so much more than just music to these guys, which is something they hope fans will feel too when listening to their albums or attending their live rituals. Well, let's get on to the music itself on this record... The first thing I have to say is that the production is perfect with respect to the music - it sounds well-produced but still cold and raw, which is the way it should be in my opinion, although I personally wouldn't mind an ever dirtier production. I actually held their debut full-length 'Rabid Death's Curse' as my favorite for a long time just because I really love the more lo-fi productions in black metal, but after spending some time with 'Sworn To The Dark' and 'Lawless Darkness' I just couldn't deny the brilliant songwriting on those albums anymore. There's a perfect mix of brutality and atmosphere throughout this record and none of the songs get boring at all. It is definitely an album that you can listen to in one sitting despite its length, but each of the songs work very well on their own as well. Another thing that struck me was that all the instruments - the drums, the guitars, the bass - is played very professionally and 'non-sloppy' here. It seems that the have developed their playing skills significantly since the 'Go Fuck Your Jewish God' demo to say the least. The vocals are awesome as well, delivered in the same ionate manner as on their previous albums. Why tinker with something that works so well, right? For me the real masterpieces on this record are 'Malfeitor', 'Reaping Death' (also released as a single), the instrumental title track and the last track - the truly epic 'Waters Of Ain', which is easily my favorite track on the album (and actually one of the greatest black metal songs I've ever heard, especially the second half of it) and which also features a small guest appearance by Fields Of The Nephilim frontman Carl McCoy whom I've liked and respected for many years. To sum it up this is a truly great black metal album, and the fact that some jury decided to award it with a grammy certainly doesn't take anything away from it - on the contrary, I'd say this album deserves all the awards it has coming, although neither I nor any of the of Watain would attach any importance to it whatsoever. As I've said before, this isn't just music - this is art. This is black metal.