Arnaut Pavle come crawling out of the frozen northern wastes of Finland to encapsulate everything great about raw old school black metal. Named for a legendary eighteenth century Serbian ‘vampire’ supposedly responsible for a plague of mysterious deaths that decimated his village, Arnaut Pavle sound like exactly that. No modern twinkly teen star shit, nor even the classic Bram Stoker eternal lover; no, Arnaut Pavle sound like a wretched strung out blood junkie forest hermit, a leprous shell of a human that’s been living off the blood of icy corpses and rodents for nigh on three hundred years.
This music is not pretty, it’s rabid and intense and as catchy as a vampire bite. An impossibly icy arctic production vomits up chainsaw guitars that peel off tremolo riffs and surprisingly melodic leads like layers of rotted skin, crashing drums tear through rocking punk inspired rhythms and the vocals screech and croak in hoarse splendour.
Arnaut Pavle have more rocking immediacy than your average black metal, but also far more atmosphere and melody than regular blackened hardcore. Think of the simplistic primal fury of Ildjarn with more songwriting skill and musical chops but losing none of that base appeal. This release captures everything that ignited the rampaging forest fire of black metal in the first place: atmosphere, violence, sonic primitivism, and a hint of icy northern mystery and mythic grandeur.
Arnaut Pavle is out now on Fallen Empire
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