CoC : Twin Obscenity - For Blood, Honour and Soil : Review

Twin Obscenity - _For Blood, Honour and Soil_
(Century Media, 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10)

There is a central difficulty I have with this release. It lies, and many of you may find this a strange statement, in the record's similarity to early Burzum. I am not a big fan of _Burzum_ and, although, it is better than this second Twin Obscenity album, the aspects I don't like about it are almost identical to the aspects I don't like about _For Blood, Honour and Soil_. The penchant which the makers of both releases have for repeating riffs is not a style I find either release carries off too well. On _Hvis Lyset Tar Oss_, Vikerness used these very same elements to create an album which, of its kind, is virtually unparalleled in quality, but, as this and other releases illustrate, achieving this is not easy. Twin Obscenity don't opt for the super-raw sound of _Burzum_, or Vikerness' unmistakable vocals, but they do add a few nice instrumental touches and toy successfully with female vocals. The production has pattering double-bass "hell hammers" (old Arcturus), Hellhammer's big, echoing Mayhem tomms, clattering snares and a melodic tinged guitar distortion and playing style. When you put the 90% raspy vocals on top, it just isn't anything special, just average. I think albums toying with a style which relies so much on a perfect mix of conditions, both musical and extraneous, need far more spontaneity than is in evidence on _For Blood, Honour and Soil_ which, continuing the Burzum comparisons, is a title containing themes the Nazis, and especially SS, toyed with. Whatever the band's stance, I am sure that if they piss on an altar or rough up a priest, Michael Moynihan will put them in his next book and make them all some money.

(article published 19/11/1998)