CoC : Unpure - Coldland : Review

Unpure - _Coldland_
(Napalm Records, 1996)
by: Henry Akeley (8 out of 10)

All right! Kolgrim and Hrasvelg are back, and this time they're less pure than ever! Celestial Pain guitarists John and Vic have teamed up with Sweden's premier purveyors of moonlit goat-lust for ten more tracks of catchy, simplistic, and very chilly nocturnal metal. In addition to being less pure than before (which the hilarious "Horny Goats" amply demonstrates), they also claim to be "Blacker than Ever" on one track - and they have definitely become catchier and even much thrashier at times. The thing that makes Unpure so cool is their unswerving allegiance to stone simplicity in riffing. There's no "epic" black metal emoting, no sappy melody, no death metal technicality - just cold, crude, infectious riffs that stomp out of your speakers looking to kick your ass. The way-fun "Count Dracula" and "Frozen" are prime examples, but the album is chock full of them. There are a number of old school styles on display this time, with a couple of thrash and heavy metal pounders written by Hrasvelg nicely complementing Kolgrim's more blackened contributions. (The guys swap vocal duties as well, which adds further variety to their basic sound.) Usually fun, always frosty, and even funny from time to time, _Coldland_ is a very cool revival of the old and unrefined ways of true underground metal.

(article published 2/1/1997)

ALBUMS
7/3/2002	Q Kalis	8	Unpure - Trinity in Black