45%
Tangorodrim—Justus Ex Fide Vivit (2007)
Details
Recorded during 2005–2006 at Head-Lee Studio.
Band
- Heller Larenuf—Vocals, guitars and bass (riffs end vocals)
- Terno Graderz—Drums (volcano grind)
Tracks
- When heirs of the horned shamelessly attack
- No light
- Cold flame of death
- The wolves are also coming…
- Justus ex fide vivit (Latin for “The just shall live by faith”)
- Without eyes and anything above
Review
This is the fourth full-length album from Russian-Israeli black metal band Tangorodrim. If readers of Tolkien are curiously wondering why the name looks so familiar, the name Tangorodrim (or Thangorodrim) is indeed taken from the Middle Earth world of JRR Tolkien; it means “Mountains of Oppression”. According to The Lord of the Rings wiki:
As Morgoth finished rebuilding Angband, the slag and debris created by his vast tunnelings was plied into three huge volcanoes, collectively known as Thangorodrim. He hastened then to rebuild his forces, breeding innumerable orcs and other fell beasts.
The album, sadly, doesn’t live up to the Tolkien heritage. It is more-or-less black metal by numbers: a treble-heavy mix of transistor-quality distortion played over a bag of jangling cutlery, and sneered over by a Tom G Warrior-wannabe.
Which isn’t a bad comparison. The six track EP reminds me very much of Hellhammer. But while that Tom Gabriel Warrior/Martin Ain early collaboration forged new trenches into the battlefield of heavy metal and embodied a determination, enthusiasm and naivety I don’t sense the same thing here. That path has already been forged. This is not much more than pastiche.
That said, the EP does improve the deeper into it you delve.
Conclusion
If you like your metal served black and with a Hellhammer flavour then I can thoroughly recommend it. However, if Hellhammer and early Celtic Frost are your thing then I recommend you stick with the originals. This is the metal equivalent of buying a fake Rolex from a Singaporean market stall.
Review score: 45%